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THE 



SPIRIT'S SWORD; 



TRUTH DEFENDED 



ERRORS AND POPULAR DELUSIONS. 



r — 

Bt WILLIAM WARREN, 

AUTHOR OF "HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION," ETC. 



BOSTON: 

S. K. WHIPPLE & COMPANY 
100 WASHINGTON STREET. 

1853. 



-^ 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, 

By S. K. WHIPPLE & CO., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusestts. 



G. C. Rand, Printer, Cornhill. 



DEDICATION. 



To the Rev. Lincoln Ripley, 
of Waterford, Maine. 

My Dear Sir: — Your name and words are fondly 
associated with my earliest religious recollections. You 
stood among the honored Fathers of my native town. 
With them you entered the unbroken wilderness, and 
took part with them in the hardships and perils of a new 
settlement. You brought with you, Sir, the Holy Bible, 
and built with the Fathers, a tabernacle to the Lord, and 
the wilderness became a fruitful field. 

You stood through the strength of your years upon 
Zion's tower in that place ; and we remember you as 
an affectionate and faithful watchman. And now, in the 
fifth score of your years * the children's children rise to 
call you blessed, not only for their Fathers' sake, but 
for their own. 

Permit me, honored and reverend Sir, to dedicate this 
volume, devoted to the defence of a Book which you 
have so long studied and reverenced, to your name. 

I owe it to you, not because your hand baptised me in 

* Ninety-two. 



4 DEDICATION, 

my infancy, nor because your lips kept knowledge, and 
we sought the law at your mouth ; but principally because, 
long after you had ceased to be our Shepherd, your best 
thoughts and affections were given to us, and to Zion. 
And I can in no other way compensate you for your 
interest in myself and my labors, and the excellent 
counsel I have so often loved to receive from your lips. 
Yours, with the strongest sentiments 
Of respect and esteem, 

WILLIAM WARREN. 
Upton, Nov. 18, 1852. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



The Moral Sphere, as well as the natural, has its 
greater and its lesser lights. Among the former are the 
Scriptures, the Saviour, and the Spirit; among the latter 
are reason, and conscience, and learning. 

In the natural world, the greater light prevails. It 
rules the day and the earth. It is the source of vegetation 
and beauty, of life and harmony. Its presence compara- 
tively extinguishes, or veils in dimness, all the lesser 
lights. These shine in their splendor only when the 
glory of the earth is absent. Opaque bodies intervening, 
or during the polar declensions, vegetation dwindles, life 
languishes, and all is stinted and colorless. 

In the moral sphere it is otherwise. The lesser lights 
usurp the sphere of the greater, and often appear to 
prevail in the world; but the effects are analogous to 
those that follow the absence of the sun in the natural 
world. The splendor of that which is earthly casts a 
veil over that which is heavenly, and gloom and pale- 
ness follow. 

Pride prefers the ray of reason, the lights of philosophy 
and learning, to those that come directly from Heaven. 
It is more gratifying to task the intellect and indulge the 
spirit of speculation, than it is to fall back upon a simple 
faith, and gain spiritual knowledge and elevation through 
the exercise of the moral affections. But wherever the 
feebler lights in the moral world are allowed to prevail 
over the greater, and the selfish passions take the orbits 
1* • 



b INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

of the higher affections, absolute darkness and countless 
errors follow. Nor can these lesser lights of the mind 
be greatly quickened, without the presence of the greater. 
But when these moral luminaries shine in their proper 
glory, then the lesser lights, all unlike what takes place 
in the natural sphere, are in a moment brightened. But 
it is in vain that we stimulate reason and conscience, so 
long as the greater lights of the world are eclipsed or 
obscured. Their radiance will continue to grow more 
and more dim and doubtful, till the moral darkness and 
ruin are complete. 

But it is easier to account for the moral condition of 
man, than to correct it. It is easier to contemplate that 
condition, than to encounter and overcome the obstacles 
to its improvement. It is impossible for us to improve 
upon the Divine plan, or to substitute in the grand 
arrangements of the moral system, inferior lights, for 
the great and fixed truths of God. We cannot expel the 
darkness of a room by polishing its bright surfaces and 
points, nor by any process of artificial exhaustion. We 
let in the light upon it, and the darkness is gone. God 
does not expel the darkness from the poles nor from the 
night by direct attacks upon it, nor by any methods of 
actual exclusion ; but he lets the sun, the great eye of 
nature, look down upon it, and it is fled. So in the moral 
sphere. Darkness, both natural and moral, is a neg- 
ative state ; it is the absence of light, and it needs but 
a ray of light to scatter it. 

Unbelief and ignorance are moral states ; not wholly 
negative, however, as they are the occasion of compli- 
cated errors and evils in the world. They are negative 
in this, certainly — that they are the absence of sound 
knowledge and a pure faith. And they can be removed 
only by those greater lights, which God hath set in the 
heavens. These shine for man — universal man. They 
are safe, essential, and sufficient for the entire world. 
Though fixed in their own great centres, and unchanging, 
still they are perfectly fitted to the circumstances, 
changes, and necessities of man. They pour upon the 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



earth a radiance, full, fresh, and life-giving, such as 
reason and learning only can reflect or transmit. 

Every age has its peculiar tendencies. Moral 
achievement is usually met by the counter currents of 
deterioration and depravity. The revolutions of the 
great wheel of progress carry some portions up by 
bringing others down. But the elevations, in true pro- 
gress, greatly exceed the depressions. There is more in 
the great wheel that rises, than there is that falls. The 
successive ages and eras usually compare favorably with 
those that are past. 

The Bible has met with determined opposition at 
every advancing era of time. Prejudice naturally clings 
to established customs, and interpretations of Scripture ; 
and philosophy is prone to be proud and independent in 
its bearings. Prejudice is loath to go to the schools of 
science and learning to gain helps in the economy and 
refinements of life, or in obtaining a knowledge of the 
Bible ; and learning is loath to assume the attitude of 
humility and trust, that makes it a safe guide in matters 
of religion. * 

It is not strange, therefore, that each developement in 
the material and intellectual world has seemed to come 
in conflict with some cherished view of Scripture. But 
it is easy to mistake an interpretation of Scripture for a 
truth of Scripture. A correct knowledge of the great 
facts of Scripture must be progressive, while the truth 
itself, whether as yet ascertained or still undiscovered, is 
complete. The methods of interpretation will never 
become perfect till science and learning are perfect. The 
truth is often clad in threadbare terms, and in frail symbols, 
sometimes in a mysterious garb; and it is addressed to 
minds, often, that are untaught in science and rude in 
conception. Yet the truth itself is fixed for ever, as the 
sun in the heavens. Superstition may cast her scroll of 
clouds, and mantle of mist, around its form, and 
obscure its glory. False systems and false science may 
eclipse that glory for a while. Other revelations, with 
kindred forms of error, idolatry, and corruption, may 



8 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



hide half the earth in ages of midnight, yet we hope to 
be able to show that this light is the same unchanging 
glory in all ages. 

It is the design of this work, to obviate some of the 
difficulties and objections that may lie against the Bible, 
and to present in a brief space the proofs of its full 
authority. I shall blend in this aim, for the purpose of 
convenience and perspicuity, the authenticity and Divine 
origin of the Scriptures. I have endeavored to be short 
and plain, so that neither a very long time nor very 
much learning will be required, to read and understand 
this volume. It is meant to be suggestive, rather than 
demonstrative. Trains of thought, we trust, are started, 
that can be carried out to correct results without the 
help of another mind. The reader will follow, in these 
pages, one who has himself contended hard with difficul- 
ties and doubts, but has been relieved, through the blessing 
of God, by a course of reasoning not unlike the one 
indicated in this work. 

W. WARREN. 

Upton, Oct. 21, 1852. 



INDEX 







PAGE. 


The classic sentence, - 


- 


13 


The counterpart — the Volume, 


- 


- 14 


The great question, 


- 


15 


The cardinal points, 


- 


- 16 


The province of reason, 


- 


17 


It determines the proof and the sense, 


- 


- 20 


First argument — presumptive evidence, 


22 


A revelation might be expected from God, 


- 22 


Man needs one, - 


- 


23 


The ancient moralists, 


- 


- 24 


Modern skeptics, 


- 


24 


Expectation from failures, - 


- 


- 26 


Objections answered, - 


- 


27 


Man not himself without the Bible, 


- 


- 29 


The fishes of the cave, - 


- 


- , 30 


Views of Aristotle, 


- 


- 30 


The argument applied, - 


- 


31 


Analogies and illustrations, 


- 


- 32 


[Religious tendencies of man, - 


- 


34 


Arguments from other provisions, - 


- 


- 37 



10 



INDEX. 



The expected book, where found ? 

Second argument — from prophecy, 

The natural gifts of man, 

Not endowed with forecast, 

The future hidden — reasons why, 

Nature of this evidence — from prophecy, - 

Instances of fulfilled prophecy, 

New Testament predictions, 

Prophecy comprehensive, 

The fabulous mirror — its counterpart, 

Inspiration and imposture, 

Evidence from prediction accumulative, 

Time reveals error and imposition, 

The position and testimony of Christ, 

His sanction of the Old Testament, 

His authority final, ... 

The Old Testament preliminary to the New, 

Third argument — the works of God, 

The works and word of God compared, 

Each has difficulties and seeming discrepancies, 

God's works as viewed in Geology, 

TI13 science that treats of the races, 

The history of providence and of nations, 

Agreement in their general outline, 

The effect of their study the same, 

Their appeal to the natural emotions the same. 

Transition from the natural to the supernatural, 

Theory of miracles, - 

Ealsc and true miracle compared, - 

Miracles expected of those sent from God, 



PAGE. 

38 

40 

41 

41 

41 

43 

44 

47 

47 

49 

51 

53 

55 

57 

58 

63* 

64 

66 

67 

67 

69 

70 

71 

72 

74 

75 

80 

80 

81 

83 



INDEX. 11 



The sanction given to truth by miracle, - 85 

God honors and owns special miracles, - - 87 

Defeat and confusion of ancient jugglers, - - 88 

New Testament miracles again, 90 

No motive in the case to deception, - 91 

The course of the apostles ingenuous, - 91 

Their words as valid as their works, - 92 

The foreign ambassador, 93 

A seal required from one sent of God, - 94 
The gift of miracle a matter of prophecy and promise, 96 
Objections — Bible abounds in unsanctified sayings, 99 

Styles of the writers differ, - - - 100 

There are things in the Bible unworthy of God, 102 

There are mysteries and hard sayings there, - 105 

Fourth argument — from experiment, - - 111 

A new science or art is tested, - - - 111 

The structure and style of the Bible considered, 113 

The Book compared with human compositions, - 114 

The opinion of a learned civilian, - - 114 

The achievements of the Bible — its fruits, - 116 

The experiment of the supposed suns, - 117 

The witnesses examined, - - - - 119 

General effects, - - ... . j23 

The monument, - - - - - 124 

Bible the key to prosperity and safety, - - 126 

The magician — the oracle of gems, - - 128 

The Bible in various circumstances, - - 129 



12 INDEX. 

APPENDIX. 

ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 

PAGE. PAGE. 

The position and importance of the 

question discussed, 134, refers to 15 

The gift of prescience considered, 136, " 43 

The curse of Canaan, 138, " 44 

Extract from Stuart, 141, " 58 

Extract from Addison, 144, " 73 

Extract from Porter, 146, " 102-4 

Extract, the place where we meet God, 155, " 112 

Tropical language, 156, " 113 

German Theology, 163, " 122 

Creeds, 167, " 129 

Changes of Time, 170, " 46, 71 

Philosophy of the Bible, 171, " 72, 129 

Spirituality of the Psalms, 173, 93, 112, 131 



THE 



SPIRIT'S SWORD: 

TRUTH DEFENDED. 



CHAPTER I. 



The classic sentence — Its counterpart — The great ques- 
tion — The perilous voyage — Reason and revelation — 
The need of established points and standards — The 
exact province of reason — The great question that of 
testimony and interpretation. 

We are told that an ancient renowned 
people had in their possession a sentence, 
which they held in the very highest vene- 
ration. They looked upon it as having 
come down to them directly from the gods. 
They so much admired its classic taste and 
moral beauty, that they caused it to be 
written in shining capitals over the entrance 
to their most magnificent temple, and in 

2 



14 the spirit's sword: 

bold relief upon the walls of their sacred 
palaces. 

The world now are in possession, not of 
a single sentence merely, but of a whole 
volume, which is regarded as having come 
down to man from the living God. It has 
for its topics, if we are to credit its claims, 
not the fables of mythology, nor the tradi- 
tions of misty antiquity; but the great 
truths of Heaven. It goes back of history 
and tradition, and professes to give us an 
account of the infancy of time and of earth, 
of the first day and the first man, and the 
first ages of the world. It assumes to go for- 
ward of history, also, and lift the veil of the 
future, and open a radiance through unmeas- 
ured time, whose last beam rests on the bar 
of God, or mingles with the effulgence of 
heavenly things. It claims to " have God 
for its author, salvation for its end, and 
truth without any mixture of error for its 
matter" 

This book, attended with various sanc- 
tions, presents itself to our consideration 
and confidence. It claims to be an absolute 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 15 

and complete revelation from God. It 
assumes the immense responsibility of 
shaping our course through an unlimited 
future. How are we to regard this claim ? 
How shall we treat this wonderful Book ? 
Shall we honor it only as a relic of past 
ages; as a record of the customs and senti- 
ments of obsolete times; as a mere specimen 
of the style and literature of the ruder 
periods of earth, or shall we yield our lives 
and hearts to its authority ? Shall we 
come to its pages in the spirit of adventu- 
rous speculation, or of an intelligent, but 
unquestioning faith ? This question exceeds 
every other in importance. Rightly an- 
swered, it helps to settle every other. 
There is no question or interest on earth in 
which man is concerned, that can be per- 
manently established till doubts pass away 
from this point.* Till this great matter 
that involves the authority of the Bible is 
settled, confidence is shaken, faith is un- 
hinged, the mind of man is afloat, and moral 
elements and principles are all in con- 
fusion. 

■ * See Appendix A. 



16 the spirit's sword: 

Let me then say, that in the sphere of 
thought and of faith, as well as in the 
physical world, we must have cardinal 
points, standards, stars, by which our views, 
and course, and confidence, are to be guided. 
In the moral sphere, moreover, we must have 
fixed points and lines, rather than arith- 
metical and imaginary ones. Faith, as well 
as reason, requires discrimination, distinc- 
tions, differences, and boundary lines, by 
which the domains of truth and error are 
visibly and for ever separated. It is with 
peril that we pass through these wilds of 
opinion and error without the help and 
guidance of the greater lights of the world. 
"Where reason falters, and the eye of con- 
science grows dim, and the lights of learn- 
ing and experience fail, we need settled 
points and principles. We need an author- 
itative standard and umpire, at whose tri- 
bunal these great moral questions may be 
promptly decided. We want the compass 
and the chart; fixed stars, and unsetting 
suns. Our course through the changes and 
counter-currents of life is made safe, only 
when directed by unfailing wisdom. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 17 

This is the place, perhaps, to remark, that 
what pure reason teaches, or rejects, can- 
not be a matter of special revelation. For 
whatever is known vnthout the aid of reve- 
lation, by the spontaneous suggestions of 
reason and moral sense, cannot be properly 
regarded as a special communication from 
God. That which we clearly see by star- 
light, is not certainly shown us by the sun; 
so, likewise, whatever we discover by the 
light of nature, or the slender rays of rea- 
son, cannot be said to have been given us 
directly from God. Again, that which 
reason necessarily rejects as palpably 
absurd and impossible, could not be estab- 
lished by any force or form of testimony 
whatever. For instance, we could not 
possibly believe that there was some thing 
previous to the existence of that which is 
eternal, even though the Bible itself should 
declare this. We could not believe that 
there were separate mountains in the Holy 
Land without a valley between them, even 
though it was recorded as a matter of fact 
in the Scriptures. The ground that revela- 



18 the spirit's sword: 

tion occupies, therefore, lies between the 
limits where frail reason teaches and 
establishes, and where pure reason justly 
revolts and rejects. And a wide field, to 
be sure, is this ! Most of the great inter- 
ests of man lie included between these 
limits. 

And it is a matter of special interest to 
remark here, that almost every thing that 
is revealed in the Bible is in itself probable; 
and that every thing there revealed is pos- 
sible. A careful examination will, I think, 
convince the reader of this fact. But if 
this is true, all that is contained in the 
Bible can be readily believed, provided the 
testimony upon which its authority rests be 
divine. 

It may be well to remark, moreover, that 
the province of reason in its relation to 
revelation, is not to determine what should 
be, or ought to be revealed, but simply the 
facts of revelation themselves, and the au- 
thority upon which these communications and 
facts rest. Reason, therefore, in this case, 
has only to do with the science of interpreta- 
tion, and of testimony. Having settled these, 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 19 

it has nothing further to do, but to give 
over the truths and sanctions and mysteries 
discovered in revelation, to the faith, and 
the conscience, and affections. It were 
preposterous for reason to undertake to 
settle the great matter, as to what ought to 
be, and ought not to be, in the perfections 
and government of God. If reason had 
the power to do this, a special revelation 
would be superfluous and impossible. Why- 
need we to be taught of God directly, if 
reason alone is qualified to judge and guide 
in the great matters of faith and responsi- 
bility ? Hence the absurdity of that phi- 
losophy, styling itself theology, that brings 
every thing found in the Bible, to the tri- 
bunal and decisions of mere reason. It 
makes reason to be the special revelation, 
and Scripture the frail interpreter; reason 
the sun, Scripture the stars. The critical 
speculative powers, the interior, or higher 
consciousness, these are the oracle, the bar 
of decision, the throne of judgement, the 
greater luminaries, to which the lesser 
lights of Scripture must yield, or in the 
presence of which, fade away! 



20 the spirit's sword: 

The question to be answered, therefore, 
in this investigation, relates principally to 
the testimony upon which the real author- 
ity of the Bible is to stand. Is this testi- 
mony conclusive? Can the great interests 
of earth and the soul be entrusted to frail 
reason, or to the conflicting decisions of 
human judgement ? Is conscience a suffi- 
cient guide, in this eventful career of human 
existence ? Are the dreams of sentiment- 
alism, the visions of speculation, the vaga- 
ries of unbridled thought, or the embryos of 
unsettled science, to become our guide in 
this world of perils and probation? Are 
these to be taken as rival claimants to our 
confidence, with the old fashioned Scrip- 
tures ? It becomes us to pursue these en- 
quiries that refer to the testimony and 
authenticity of the Bible, with the utmost 
candor and caution. We are in times 
when men are tempted to install these fickle 
standards over what others regard as the 
infallible Lights of heaven. The laws and 
lights of earth are too often allowed to 
take the precedence of those from above. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 21 

The present enquiry is this: Shall this Book 
hold a secondary position, or, the very 
highest place in our confidence ? Shall this 
volume be held in universal doubt and dis- 
trust, or shall it take the throne of our con- 
fidence and regard? Shall it be taken as 
our chart in life's perilous voyage, or shall 
it be thrown overboard ? 



22 



the spieit's sword: 



CHAPTER II. 



Arguments from reason — Presumptive evidence — What 
might we venture to expect from God — And in view 
of the necessities of man — The condition of the world 
without the Bible — The ancient systems — The skepti- 
cal schools — The failure of other systems encourages 
the expectation of a revelation — Objections considered. 

Is is contrary to reason to expect from 
God a special guide? Is it not rather 
consonant with sound reason and just anal- 
ogy to look for such a guide, if the gift 
would be a favor to man, and consistent 
with the Divine perfections? I think no 
presumptive argument could be urged against 
such an expectation; while there are very 
strong preliminary reasons in its favor. 
We should be led to hope, from the known 
perfections of God, that he would reveal 
himself to his perishing creatures. His 
wisdom and goodness encourage this 
expectation. He has boundless knowledge 
from which to furnish materials for such a 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 23 

work, unlimited resources of power to re- 
move obstacles, and open avenues to the 
convictions of men, and infinite goodness 
to incline him to such a course, if there 
were no good reasons against it. He is 
indeed able and willing to do all that infi- 
nite benevolence, comprehending all inter- 
ests, shall require. 

And then there are human necessities in 
the case. Man needs a revelation. He is 
lost without one. The state of civilization 
and mental culture the world over is at 
the lowest ebb where the Christian religion 
has not found its way. What do we find 
the moral and social state of man to be, 
in those lands, where only the light of 
nature, and the rays of reason have pene- 
trated. We must confess that by wisdom 
the world knows not God, — that without 
a revelation man is unprofitable and un- 
faithful, is untrue to himself and to the 
great ends of his existence. So long as 
the race gropes in the candle light of na- 
ture, without a written revelation, society 



24 the spirit's sword: 

will sink lower and lower in atheism and 
moral midnight. 

Not a few of the ancients, who were 
eminent in wisdom and learning, lost con- 
fidence in their systems of philosophy, as a 
means of reforming the world. They were 
forced to the unwelcome conclusion, that 
their systems of morality, however truthful 
and excellent in themselves, were wholly 
inadequate to reach and remove the moral 
wretchedness of man. They admitted, that 
unless some one of higher authority and 
power than they possessed, should come to 
earth to instruct and guide men, the world 
would continue to grope in darkness and 
perish. Such were the despairing views, 
the wisest of men were forced to take of 
the world's prospects and perils without a 
special revelation* 

But what advance has the wisdom of 
modern ages been able to make upon the 
philosophy of ancient times ? Have the 
cold, negative theories of this or previous 
ages, sufficed to reform the world? We 



■ TRUTH DEFENDED. 25 

might safely conjecture that if the ancient 
moralists, with their excellent systems and 
treatises, failed to enlighten and reform 
the nations, the skeptical philosophy of 
modern times would only serve to make 
the darkness visible. The systems of the 
ancients were positive, vigorous, and seri- 
ous; but the philosophy of the skeptical 
schools is loose, negative, and sentimental. 
What ray of hope can we rationally cher- 
ish, that theories so destitute of stirring 
truths, of earnest and high moral sanc- 
tions, can ever effect any favorable change 
in the moral world ? If the ancients, 
who taught the doctrines of immortality 
and of personal accountableness, failed to 
awaken the conscience and reform the life, 
what short of absolute defeat could be 
expected from those who utterly deny the 
great truths of revelation, and seek to ban- 
ish from the faith and fears of men, the very 
idea of a future life, and a hastening judg- 
ment ? How far short, therefore, even of 
the moral standard set forth by the ancient 
schools, must the disorganizing theories 



26 the spirit's sword: 

and skeptical opinions of the present age 
fall, in point of real reformatory power ! 
What man's highest wisdom has failed to 
accomplish, weakness and a faltering confi- 
dence cannot be expected to reach and 
achieve. The world's regeneration is to 
be the work of special wisdom and power. 
Unenlightened by revelation, the nations, 
as a general fact, are filled with various 
superstitions, gross idolatries, and the most 
degrading forms of vice. 

"We should venture, therefore, to expect, 
both from his own perfections and the ruin 
and helplessness of man, that God might, 
in special ' mercy, reveal himself to the 
world; provided such a step were practi- 
cable, and consistent with all interests and 
his own glory. 

But it is objected, that this argument 
proves too much ; that it would lead us to 
look for a revelation to visit the whole 
human family, and without the delay of 
long ages. But it is remarked here, that 
man cannot present a claim on Heaven for 
a revelation. It is neither his right, nor 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 27 

his due, nor desert, in a moral point of 
view. If bestowed at all, a special revela- 
tion must be regarded as a gratuity — a 
gift — and not as a matter of obligation 
on the part of Heaven. And, again, God 
often allows his plans and work to be exe- 
cuted in part by human hands. It becomes 
the privilege of human agents to co-ope- 
rate with God, in carrying out his holy 
purposes. There is consequently a long 
delay often in the fulfilment of the most 
beneficent designs. Again, God is seldom 
in haste in his works of judgment or of 
mercy. Infinite reasons deter him from 
acts of precipitancy, except where justice 
and truth require promptness. And anal- 
ogy, also, drawn from the Divine operations 
in other respects, would lead us to look 
for the principle of discrimination in this, 
as in all other special gifts from Heaven. 
Favors that are sovereign and special, 
though provided for all, are not always 
equally and at once bestowed. It follows 
that blessings such as might be expected, 
both from the goodness of God and the 



28 the spirit's sword: 

'necessities of lost man, are not always im- 
mediately and universally distributed. In 
scattering abroad his mercies, God means 
so to act as to show to all that they are 
mercies simply, and that their dispensation 
rests on sovereignty, rather than on any 
obligation on his own part, 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 29 



CHAPTER III. 

Man is not properly himself without a revelation — The 
sightless fish of the cave — Views of Aristotle — His 
argument applied — Various illustrations — The argu- 
ment expanded — The demand of the moral and 
religious nature — Argument from the other provisions 
of God — Where shall we look for this revelation. 

Another presumptive argument that the 
Bible is from God, is found in the fact, that 
man feels the need of such a help, in his 
moral and mental nature. He fails to 
reach his own real developement and con- 
sciousness without it. He is not truly 
himself without a special revelation from 
God. He stumbles and falls without the 
lamp of God in his hand. The human 
mind has never risen to a full conscious- 
ness of personal power and dignity, except 
under the light of a direct revelation. 
Man has never attained the true idea of 
his own proper individuality and responsi- 
bility, without light from above. Where 

8* 



30 the spirit's sword: 

the Bible has not gone, nor the greater 
lights of Heaven shone, there man grovels 
and gropes. He is elevated but little 
above the mere animal in his moral and 
intellectual appreciations. If there are 
exception to this statement, they only 
prove its general correctness. We then 
state, that man needs a revelation, in order 
to a full consciousness and realization of 
himself. It is essential to his truest and 
highest developement. 

In a small lake found in the Mammoth 
Cave, there are said to be fishes that are 
without eyes. There is not wanting in 
them the anatomy, the socket, the indent- 
ment; but, on account of the absence of the 
medium of vision — the genial light, — 
there is no developement of sight. So, the 
moral and mental powers of man are dwarfed, 
without the greater lights of Heaven. 

The argument to prove the existence of 
a God, used by Aristotle, applies to the 
present subject. He declared, in view of a 
common necessity in man for the idea of 
the infinite, that if there were no God, we 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 31 

should hare to invent one. He meant that 
man was not himself without the force of 
this great idea, that neither individuals nor 
nations could reach their highest develope- 
ment and glory, without the pervading 
influence of this fundamental belief. 

It is easy to step from this point to 
another. Man can no more attain his true 
moral and mental dignity, without a perfect 
guide, than without an infinite God. He 
has the same fixed necessity for the idea 
and influence of a revelation, that he has 
for the knowledge and worship of an infi- 
nite God. It is indeed true, that the 
knowledge of the true God depends very 
essentially on this special light of Heaven. 
The lesser lights of philosophy and reason 
may, indeed, if followed, guide us to a 
knowledge of the true God. And yet that 
knowledge has never extended much beyond 
the light of revelation. A perfect law 
man must have, in order to a true moral 
elevation. A standard of absolute truth 
and trust he must possess in full confidence, 
in order to a complete moral and intellect- 



32 the spirit's sword: 

ual maturity. Man would deify himself, 
or a thousand inferior forms, without the 
ennobling idea of a God; so is he prone to 
regard himself as inspired, or every other 
dreaming pretender, till he finds the true 
Light, that lighteneth every man. The 
argument stands thus: as this inborn neces- 
sity in man for the idea of a God goes to 
prove presumptively that there is such a 
being, so the same deep necessity for' an 
infallible guide and standard, leads us to 
expect this gift from the hand of God. 
The universal necessity favors the proba- 
bility of the actual provision in the case. 
If man fails of rising to his true native dig- 
nity without a special guide from Heaven, 
we might rationally hope that such a guide 
has been given him. And if the Bible meets 
these high moral necessities, and tends to 
elevate man to his true dignity and glory, 
we are compelled to consider this Book as 
a special gift of God. 

If the eye sickens and shrivels without 
the light, but expands and brightens into 
beauty with it, we argue that the light is 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 33 

made for the eye, and the eve for the light. 
If the ear decays without vibrations from 
the air, and the lungs also perish when 
closed from it, but both are pleasurably 
excited by its presence and elasticity, it 
proves that these were made for the air, 
and the air for these. If the phenomena 
of the planets could be easily explained 
upon the supposition of a more distant one, 
yet undiscovered, but in no other way, it 
would seem evident that there must be yet 
another planet to be added to the system. 
And if all celestial changes and mysteries 
could be easily accounted for on the suppo- 
sition of there being in distant space a cen- 
tral orb, around which all other systems re- 
volve, and all science and calculations went 
to confirm this theory, but were involved 
in a labyrinth of absurdities and difficulties 
without it, we should be forced to the pro- 
bable conclusion that such a theory must 
be founded in truth. 

The use we would make of these suppo- 
sitions is the following: Man perishes mor- 
ally and intellectually without those great 



34 the spirit's sword: 

truths that emanate from the Scriptures, 
and cluster around the idea of a God. 
The eye no more certainly perishes without 
the light, nor the ear and lungs without the 
air, than do the moral eye and sense 
without the clear light and the higher laws 
of Heaven. As the paths of the more dis- 
tant planets were ascertained with a high 
degree of probability from the irregulari- 
ties and anomalous tendencies of the plan- 
etary system previously discovered, and as 
the hypothesis of a central sun is made prob- 
able by celestial phenomena that are inex- 
plicable upon any other supposition, so the 
innate necessities and tendencies of indi- 
vidual and associated man, all meeting and 
harmonizing in these great truths of reve- 
lation, help to give conclusiveness to the 
presumptive evidence by which it is 
confirmed. 

In presenting the presumptive arguments 
in proof of the Divine authority of Scrip- 
ture, we are forced to make much of man's 
religious tendencies. He naturally sur- 
rounds himself with a spiritual world. He 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 35 

instinctively places over himself a spiritual 
sceptre. He acknowledges himself bound 
by the highest moral obligations. Man is 
universally susceptible to religious influ- 
ences and appeals; and where true religion 
is lost, superstition of some kind is 
installed in its stead. Man was made to 
contemplate and admire, to love and adore, 
to believe, and obey, and worship. He is 
a religious being, — has spiritual sympa- 
thies, conceptions, and aspirings, and these 
can be met and satisfied with nothing 
short of the perfect and absolute. Now, 
whenever these tendencies are disappointed 
or checked, the spiritual nature collapses, 
the wings of faith falter, and man fails to 
reach his appointed dignity and destiny. 
If external realities do not correspond to 
his internal necessities, he looks forth into 
emptiness, his anticipations are crushed, 
and he reacts and preys upon himself. 
God's image within him grovels, and the 
imperishable nature pines. But let the 
idea of a personal God and confidence in 
a perfect guide be restored to his faith, and 



36 the spirit's sword: 

he is in a new world; the moral and men- 
tal powers feel the force of a fresh resurrec- 
tion. His rational necessities and cravings 
are satisfied, and the moral splendor of the 
primitive man is comparatively regained. 
Light from above rests upon his path, 
attractions from the great centre bring him 
under the control of new influences, and 
urge him onward in a new career, toward 
a new destiny ! He has now a new form 
of life, is the highest style of man, and 
walks erect among the sons of God. 

The views above expressed are only an 
expansion of the preceding argument. 
They give plausibility to the presumptive 
evidence in favor of the full authority of 
the Bible. If this book every where gives 
the human mind a start and an impulse 
toward perfection, and urges man on 
through difficulties and temptations, and 
puts upon him a finishing glory, where shall 
we place it, except upon the catalogue of 
God's greatest works ? That which takes 
the marble block from the cold quarry, and 
gives it the figure and fashion of man, and 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 37 

puts upon it breathing beauty, is the 
highest style of art. But to take the man 
himself from earth, and break him off from 
the degrading associations of sense and 
sin, and change the stone into spirit, and 
turn his lost nature into the image and 
fashion of his Saviour, is an achievement 
which nothing short of a Divine art can 
effect. The book that meets our moral 
wants and miseries, and raises us into fel- 
lowship with heaven, is scarcely to be 
ascribed to a human authorship. He who 
made the spirit, and awakened its conscious- 
ness and aspirations, has he not made 
provision to satisfy its deepest necessities, 
and its strongest cravings ? 

We have, indeed, a day that is sacred; 
the Jews had a house that was holy: there 
has lived a man that was perfect as such, 
and Divine even in his human nature: and 
God has given us exact truth in the king- 
doms and sciences of nature. He has given 
us a law, too, written upon the scroll of 
creation, afterward upon fleshly tablets, 
that answers to a perfect conscience. In 



38 the spirit's sword: 

these things God has been true to man. 
He has been generous as well as just. He 
has put his own impress upon time and art, 
upon man and earth, and has he not put 
his own seal upon some one Book of all that 
have ever been written ? Has he given us 
the perfect in every thing else, and not in 
this highest human necessity? Has he 
given us the perfect in science, to inform 
and expand the mind, but failed to give us 
any counterpart to this in the moral king- 
dom, to meet our spiritual necessities? 
We are led rather to expect from the other 
gifts of God, and the wants of man, that 
the same hand that has supplied so pro- 
fusely all other necessities, has also 
provided for this highest human need. 

But where is this book ? To what star 
in the literary firmament shall we look as 
our fixed, infallible guide ? Among the 
many claimants to our confidence and suf- 
frage as an unerring standard, upon which 
shall our choice fall? Which of all the 
books that have been written, and of the 
various rival revelations, is to be taken as 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 39 

the Word of God? Where shall we find 
that volume whose contents are truth 
unmixed with error, — that sure guide, such 
as man needs, and might dare to expect, 
that answers to the perfect in other things, 
and to the nature and destination of the 
soul immortal? In what age has it 
appeared? To what nation has it been 
given? In what form and garb has it 
come to earth ? Is it the Vedas of tlie 
ancient Hindu? or the Shasters of the 
learned Bramin ? Is it the Koran of the 
Moslem? or the volumes of Confucius, 
Plato, or Swedenborg ? Where do we find 
this Book of books, but in the Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments, standing 
in the solitude of their glory as the light 
and guide of the world ? 

The foregoing we offer as presumptive 
evidence, or an a priori argument, in favor 
of the divine authority of Scripture. 



40 the spieit's sword: 



CHAPTER IV. 

Argument from prophecy — Man's natural gifts — He has 
not forecast — All for the best — Reasons why he is for- 
bidden to see the future — Nature of this evidence- 
Some illustrations of fulfilled prophecy — Sons of Noah 
— Ishmael — Shiloh — The four kingdoms — Still other 
instances — New Testament predictions — Genuine pro- 
phecies refer to a system or chain of events. 

I pass now to another form of proof. 
The Bible throughout is put upon the test 
of the fulfilment or the occurrence of 
foretold events. It stands or falls upon 
this ground. Neither of the pretended 
revelations just referred to, have ventured 
beyond the limits of safe conjecture in this 
direction. A book that should base its 
authority and claims to inspiration on the 
ground of the faithful fulfilment of ex- 
tended and comprehensive predictions, 
original upon its own pages, would furnish 
the evidence from itself, of the validity or 
falsehood of its claims. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 41 

Man has indeed the gift of memory, but 
not of forecast. He has power to retrace 
the past, but not to survey the future. That 
which has been may be definitely recalled 
and reviewed, but that which is yet to be is 
reached only by special revelation, or un- 
certain anticipation and conjecture, save as 
we follow down the illuminated track of 
prophecy. 

An arrangement that shuts out from the 
present view the occurrences of the future, 
is undoubtedly a benevolent one. An in- 
discriminate knowledge of coming events 
would tend to unfit men for present 
duties. The anticipation of future evils 
would prey upon the present, and dry up 
the spirits. Or the prospect of coming 
joys would tend to make present pleasures 
insipid, or present burdens insupportable; 
and the passing hours, meanwhile, would 
move on wearily; and greedy anticipation 
would exhaust beforehand the pleasures 
that would otherwise have surprised and 
delighted us. Life's blessings are best en- 
joyed, and its burdens most easily borne, 

4* 



42 the spirit's sword: 

one by one. Enjoyment would be changed 
into bitterness, contentment into disquie- 
tude, if the curtain that separates us from 
the future should be at once lifted. And 
besides, the " angel of hope " that scatters 
the future over with bright prospects, 
mingling with shades of uncertainty the 
highest possibilities, spreading and bridg- 
ing the vales of doubt and danger, with 
cheering contrasts and exciting prospects, 
would never visit the habitations of men, 
gladdening their desponding hours, and 
urging them onward and upward, except 
from the fact that the future lies for the 
most part concealed from the present view. 

And then the uncertainty that attends 
future things has a salutary influence upon 
the present. It lays a pressure of motives 
upon the conscience. It prompts to present 
duty and faithfulness. As we know not 
what shall be on the morrow, the uncer- 
tainties of the future, connected with its 
possibilities, and vast events, serve to 
stimulate us to exertion to meet its 
exigencies. 

But more than this; the gift in question of 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 43 

ordinarily * foreseeing future events would 
obliterate one of the stongest pillars of 
proof upon which rests the authority of 
revelation. One of the peculiarities of the 
Scripture writers is that they precisely 
foretold future events. In this they trans- 
cended their natural gifts and powers. 
This fact proves that God was with them. 
To unfold the future in its' grand outlines 
and definite history, is as exclusively the 
work of God, as it is his prerogative to 
know and to fix the sublime events of 
that future. And whoever have definitely 
revealed the events of coming time, in their 
connected relations and minute details, 
must have written as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost, 

How does the case stand with the 
Scripture writers? Have they this seal 
of Divine authority, such as the defi- 
nite fulfilment of prophecy stamps upon 
their works ? Whoever carefully examines 
secular history and compares it thoroughly 
with the predictions of the Bible, will be 

* See Appendix B. 



44 the spirit's sword: 

struck with their wonderful coincidences, 
and the manifest and manifold fulfilments 
of the latter. A few instances must suffice 
as examples. 

How perfectly has the prediction con- 
cerning the three sons of Noah been ful- 
filled. The descendants of Shem and 
Japhet are now filling the three civilized 
quarters of the globe, while the sons of 
Ham are inheriting the curse.* 

Again, the words forespoken of Ishmael, 
how exactly have they been verified ! His 
descendents are to this day wild men, that 
have never been tamed. And wherever 
found, whether in their native Arabia, or 
among the ridges of Korassin, or in the 
wastes of the desert, this race is every 
where fulfilling the word spoken of the 
outcast son, that his hand should be against 
every man, and every man's hand against 
him. 

Again, the barbarous nations that vexed 
and destroyed Israel have, according to 
the precise words of prophecy, long since 

* See Appendix C. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 45 

perished, and in the precise form that was 
* foretold; and their destroyers, also, have 
shared a similar destruction, according to 
the literal prediction. 

And in fulfilment of the writings of the 
Old Testament, the sceptre departed from 
Judah, and the seed of Israel were 
driven out, and scattered to and fro upon 
the earth. And yet in their wanderings, 
and under their heaviest judgments, they 
have maintained their national peculiari- 
ties and identity the world over, awaiting 
the time when the sceptre shall return 
again, either in a national or spiritual form, 
to that prophetic people. 

But according to the exact promise a 
star rose out of Jacob, and the Shiloh 
founded a kingdom, which has come to 
spread across the seas, and is extending its 
borders over the globe; while the proud 
sovereignties of Greece and Rome, with 
their glittering isles, and golden ages, and 
rich dependencies, have passed away for 
ever. 

The four kingdoms have -indeed fallen, 



46 the spirit's sword: 

as was foretold of them. The head of 
gold, the arms of silver, the belly and * 
thighs of brass, and feet of iron and of 
clay, have long since been broken to 
powder, and mingled with the prostrate 
ruins of earth. But if the bold artist 
should attempt to revive those four king- 
doms, of Assyria, Persia, Greece and Rome, 
in one expressive and truthful column, he 
could not do better than to reproduce, as 
faithfully as possible, the image described 
by Daniel. Or if some admirer of the 
past should wish to immortalize in verse 
those venerable kingdoms, he could not 
expect to rival, either in imagery or inci- 
dent, the descriptions given by the prophet, 
long before the scenes themselves tran- 
spired. 

And Nineveh, unknown until recently as 
to its exact site; Babylon, still the home of 
the bittern and the owl; Tyre, a lone rock 
where fishers spread their nets to the sun; 
and Egypt also, long since the basest of 
kingdoms, are all standing, as they have 
been for thousands of years, as monuments 
to the truth of Scripture prophecy. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 47 

And so definitely was the time foretold 
of Messiah's coming to his temple, that 
when he actually appeared, the world were 
in general expectation of him. Even Pagan 
nations, having caught some of the tradi- 
tionary rays of revelation, or taught by a 
silent inspiration, were anticipating the 
coming of a Divine personage from Heaven, 
and a golden age of good. 

Time would fail me to more than glance 
at the New Testament predictions. They 
refer to the Messiah's coming, just at hand; 
his miraculous birth and works, his won- 
derful character and kingdom, with the 
wonderful circumstances of his death and 
resurrection. They relate, also, to the 
destruction of Jerusalem, the fate of the 
stubborn Jews and faithful Christians. 
They sketch, too, the triumphs and glory 
of the future church. 

These predictions, from first to last, hold 
out to our view, a vast connection of 
events, that have distinguished the differ- 
ent ages and eras of the world. The 
unfoldings of prophecy have presented a 



48 the spirit's sword: 

historical panorama, or comprehensive out- 
line of the successive events and ages of 
time. And the predictions of the New 
Testament, we are to regard as supplement- 
ary, so to speak, to those of the Old, as are 
the great events there recorded, a fulfil- 
ment of ancient prophecy, and a counter- 
part to the early history of the church. 

Such is the scroll of prophecy, and it 
clearly stamps the writings of Scripture as 
a revelation from God. He that has this 
gift, looks through the glass of Omniscience, 
and in directions and into depths which the 
unaided mind has not power to do. 



TEUTH DEFENDED. 49 



CHAPTER V. 

The fabulous mirror — Its true counterpart — Sooth- 
saying, and the like — Divination and inspiration, false 
and true oracles compared — The proof from prophecy 
accumulative — Time detects imposture and reveals 
error — The true prophet worthy of confidence in all 
he reveals. 

We read in the fabulous records of 
antiquity, of a mirror, with properties so 
rare that things remote. and near at hand, 
before and behind, above and beneath, 
could be distinctly" seen, at the same view, 
by the beholder. Such a mirror have we 
in the Bible. So true is this book to the 
past and the future, to heaven and to earth, 
that by a right use of it, we may discern 
events far distant and near at hand, things 
above and beneath, past and to come, in 
one comprehensive view. Here, in forms 
and glory that answer to no finite concep- 
tions, we behold the uncreated God, 
seated upon his dazzling throne. Around 



50 the spirit's sword: 

him is a view of Heaven, of ineffable 
splendor and beauty. We see its shining 
orders and ranges of worshippers, all re- 
flecting the bright perfections of the throne. 
In dreadful contrast, and in awful depths, 
we have a glimpse of Hell, the prison of 
eternal justice. We see, too, in this won- 
derful mirror, the new world just emerging 
from nothing. Now, the Spirit moves upon 
the chaos, bringing order out of confusion, 
perfection and beauty from darkness, in 
successive dissolving views. Now the fir- 
maments appear, beneath and above. The 
green earth and intervening oceans are 
stretched out in magnificent contrast, and 
all is crowned with being and beauty. 

Such are some of the views, of sublimest 
interest, which this prophetic mirror gives 
us. And must it not have come to us from 
the hand of God ? Is not the gift of the 
seer a seal of inspiration ? and are we not 
to confide in all the communications which 
writers, thus gifted, make to us ? The sa- 
cred penmen possessed this gift, which 
proves that God was with them. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 51 

But we are met with various objections 
and difficulties. Ungodly persons pretend 
to the power of penetrating the future. 
Soothsaying and conjury have drawn after 
them admiring multitudes, and deceived 
the very elect. But divination has brought 
forth little else than delusion. The pre- 
tended communications of familiar spirits 
have been frivolous, senseless, and incon- 
sistent. These oracles, indeed, even if 
worthy of confidence, do not possess a 
value to the world worth the pains of 
recording them. 

But we have a different account to give 
of the genuine Oracles. The inspired 
prophets have spoken of. the future in 
strains worthy of God, and have so linked 
together the chains of past and progressive 
events, as to constitute a harmonious and 
magnificent system. The light of their 
pens has thrown the glimmerings of un- 
worthy pretenders into depths of shade. 
Their predictions present an august series 
of events, in themselves vast, consistent, 
and sublime, the loss of a single part or 



52 . the spirit's sword: 

link of which would be fatal to the whole 
chain. A false note in the great prophetic 
harmony would throw the whole into 
jarring discord and wild confusion. 

But soothsaying, at best, dares to stand 
only on the brink of the future, hesitating, 
balancing; venturing and then retreating, 
and always relying on artifice, credulity, 
and conjecture. The oracles of divination 
have always been doubtful and disjointed, 
dubious, equivocal and fragmentary. The 
Pagan oracles have ever been famed for 
their ambiguity, as they have been notori- 
ous for self-contradiction and absurdity. 

Not so the prophecies of Scripture. 
They are bold and adventurous, — are of 
vast variety, of prodigious extent, and of the 
sublimest import, — reaching from the fall 
of man to the final consummation. Their 
scheme embraces in one grand compass of 
design, an outline of Divine providence and 
of human history from their first unfold- 
ings to their final dev elopement. The rise 
and fall of nations as seen in the prophetic 
glass, instead of appearing as the work of 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 53 

a blind chance * are clearly the successive 
parts of one stupendous plan, where each 
minute event and grand revolution holds a 
fixed relation to the great whole, and 
everything is helping to establish a king- 
dom which shall stand in its glory, after 
the changes of earth and time shall have 
passed away. 

The evidence from prophecy in support 
of revelation is accumulative. It does not 
depend so much on the fulfilment of any 
one single prediction, as on the accomplish- 
ment of a series of events, and the fulfil- 
ment of a grand system of predictions. 
A random conjecture may turn out to be 
true, or not: a fortunate guess or haphaz- 
ard prediction may be verified by corres- 
ponding occurrences. But these facts 
would do nothing to establish th£ author- 
ity of him who gave forth such utterances 
or assertions. The strength of proof given 
to the authority of revelation by the fulfil- 
ment of prophecy, lies in the accumulative 
nature of this evidence, — - in the fact that 
a vast series and system of predictions have 

5* 



54 the spirit's sword: 

been verified. The first fulfilment could 
have been accounted for on the ground of 
chance or luck. The probabilities that the 
second fulfilment was a matter of contin- 
gency, were vastly less. And so we pro- 
ceed to the third, the fifth, and the tenth, 
but upon a ratio of improbabilities as to 
these occurrences being accidental, that 
shall exceed all conception. We have, 
therefore, upon the pages of prophecy, a 
growing proof, a rapidly accumulating 
demonstration of the truth of Scripture. 
"We are forced to the conviction, as we 
peruse these writings, that they must have 
proceeded from the mind that planned and 
governs all things. For whoever has the 
power to seize beforehand the vast events 
of time^and combine them into harmonious 
and comprehensive relations, is in sympa- 
thy with him who views the end from the 
beginning. The writer who stakes the 
truth of what he declares upon the accom- 
plishment of definite predictions, summons 
the revelations of future time to attest or 
refute the correctness of what he states. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 55 

And as time, the great detector of errors 
and falsehood, passes on its circle of ages, 
the reality or spuriousness of his commu- 
nications will be brought out more and 
more to light. But nothing is more 
thoroughly tested by that which proves 
all things — the touchstone of time — than 
the truth of genuine prophecy. The facts 
or errors of all Bible predictions will 
continue to unfold and grow manifest 
as the ages pass away, till doubt gives 
place to demonstration. 

It follows as a rational inference from 
what has been said, that the various other 
communications intermingled with faithful 
prophecy, are worthy of our confidence as 
coming from the same Divine source. For 
if the Spirit enabled prophets to speak 
that which was true in reference to what 
was then future, we are bound to believe 
them when they tell us what was then past. 
And if it appears that they spake the 
truth in reference to what was then future 
to them, but is now fulfilled to us, we are 
bound to believe what they have spoken in 



56 the spirit's sword: 

reference to what is yet unfulfilled, or is 
now future to us. And if they have 
spoken the truth in respect to all the past 
and the future, in what they have stated, 
both as historic and prophetic, as the 
tongue of time thus far declares, are we 
not to believe them when they speak of 
doctrine and of duty, in threatening and 
in promise, and of our relations to time and 
to man, to eternity and io God ? 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 57 



CHAPTER VI. 

The position and testimony of Christ — His sanction of 
the Old Testament — He would not endorse deception 
— The wise parent — The Jewish notions of the inspi- 
ration of their Scriptures — No appeal from the decision 
of Christ and his Apostles — The Old Testament 
preliminary to the New. 

As we leave this department of proof, 
let us examine the position which the 
Saviour held in regard to prophecy. We 
will assume here that the evidences of 
Christianity are admitted; that the testi- 
mony of Christ recorded in the gospels is 
established. We do not urge the fact here, 
that Christ was himself a prophet, and 
spake by his own original omniscience as 
well as by gifts conferred by the Father; 
we confine ourselves simply to the views 
he held with regard to the prophetic 
writings, and the other portions of the Old 
Testament. He authenticated those writ- 
ings not only, but was an infallible inter- 



58 THE spirit's sword: 

preter of their sense. He gave his own 
unqualified sanction to the entire Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures, including the prophecies 
and every other kind of communication 
contained in them.* From a large list of 
passages in which the testimony of Christ 
is thus given, I select only these few: " All 
things which are written of me in Moses 
and the Prophets and the Psalms, are true." 
Reference is here had to an ancient division 
or classification, which included all the 
books now contained in the Old Testament 
canon. Here we have, in the plainest lan- 
guage, and from the lips of the Saviour 
himself, a full endorsement of all the Old 
Testament writings, prophecies, and the 
rest. It is true, unbelief may cavil here, 
and ask how Moses could know anything 
of Christ, thousands of years before his 
appearing ? and of the Prophets and the 
Psalmists, how they obtained information 
concerning Christ and the latter days? 
We answer: Indeed, not from the blind 

* See Appendix. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 59 

magicians of tlieir age, nor from diviners, 
nor those of familiar spirits ! These de- 
ceivers had no knowledge of the vast events 
recorded in prophecy, and fulfilled in after 
periods of time. No conjurer of heathen 
or Jewish history, not even the sorceress 
of Endor, had any discernment of Christ or 
his kingdom, or of the marvellous events 
of the last days. The spirits of the proph- 
ets were subject to the prophets, and not 
to the spirit of evil and darkness. These 
great events were reserved for the vision 
of men who should speak " as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost." Christ could 
never have given the least sanction to im- 
posture or deception. Those who were 
favored with such glorious views of the 
gospel dispensation, were inspired from 
above. It is evil men that love to deal 
in dark sayings. It is such as are inspired, 
if inspired at all, from beneath. But all 
those that have spoken of Christ and his 
kingdom in strains worthy of God, and have 
had the sanction of his testimony and inter- 
pretation, and of time also, to the authority 



60 the spirit's sword: 

of their writing'?, are worthy to be believed, 
with an unquestioning confidence, and that, 
too, in all they have spoken. For God would 
not have entrusted those great truths that 
relate to Christ and his kingdom, to men 
who were the chronielers of error in other 
respects. Every ascertained science in the 
kingdom of nature is found justly related 
to all other sciences, and seldom mixed and 
confounded with false systems. So the 
firmament, where God deigns to fix his true 
oracles, to shine as the stars and constella- 
tions for ever, are unspotted by false sys- 
tems, or mock suns, or lawless stars of 
eccentric origin and perilous course. So 
that when Christ declares, in the passage 
above quoted, that all things that were 
written of him in the ancient Scriptures 
were true, he gave the whole force of his 
sanction to the prophecies and other writ- 
ings of those Scriptures. 

Again, he enjoins it upon the Jews to 
" search the Scriptures/ 7 for said he, " they 
are they which testify of me." And again 
he declares, " that the Scriptures cannot be 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 61 

broken." Now these declarations cannot 
be reconciled with the belief that a part of 
the Old Testament writings are unworthy 
of our confidence. Would Christ have 
commanded the Jews to search the Scrip- 
tures, without qualification, if portions of 
them were false ? Or could it be said with 
truth that the Scriptures cannot be broken, 
if parts of them were obsolete in their 
authority, or erroneous in their sentiments ? 
And I ask, earnestly and reverently, could 
the Saviour of the world, who was the light 
that lighteneth every man, — who so loved 
the world as to give his life for its redemp- 
tion, — could he have enjoined it upon his 
followers to read and reverence those 
Scriptures, if portions of them were false 
and hurtful? and this without first care- 
fully pointing out those spurious parts, and 
putting all upon their guard against them. 
Did he not warn his disciples against the 
Pharisees, and the leaven of their doc- 
trines ? and also, against the false prophets 
and their flattering lies? Can any one 



62 THE spirit's sword: 

doubt as to what course the Saviour would 
pursue, in the case here supposed ? 

Not even a natural parent of common 
sensibility and discretion, would put a book 
into the hands of a child, some portions of 
which were false and pernicious, and com- 
mand that child to read and reverence that 
book, without first carefully pointing out 
and marking those parts that were injuri- 
ous. And would not the blessed Saviour, 
who had so strong a love for the world and 
for the truth, and such a hatred of error 
and imposture, have done this same thing 
with respect to the Old Testament books, 
if they were spurious and pernicious ? We 
answer with emphasis, that he would. 

I say, besides, that modern theories of 
inspiration touching the Old Testament, 
are an imputation, a reflection upon the 
honesty, or intelligence of the Lord Jesus 
Christ! For if these views of those 
writings are correct, the Saviour either 
must have had incorrect views of them 
himself, and have spoken under misappre- 
hension, when he gave his full assent and 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 63 

sanction to their truth, or he dishonestly 
concealed, for the sake of effect, or to con- 
ciliate prejudice and to save appearances, 
his own real views and the real facts with 
respect to those writings! But this is 
ground which none but the infidel would 
dare to take. 

It is not to be forgotten here, that the 
notions of the Jews concerning the inspira- 
tion of the Old Testament Scriptures were 
all but extravagantly high; and yet we 
never hear the Great Teacher uttering a 
word to shake or lower their confidence in 
their Scriptures. On the other hand, all 
he said was adapted to call their attention 
to those Scriptures, and to strengthen their 
confidence in them. How can we account 
for this fact, unless we admit that those 
Scriptures were Divine, or question the 
doctrine that the Saviour himself was Di- 
vine ? It is safe for us to take the same 
view of those writings which Christ and 
his apostles were accustomed to take. No 
other view, I think, can stand the test of 
time, of true experience, or of sound phi- 



64 the spirit's sword: 

losophy. These great lights of the world 
have taught us that all Scripture was given 
by inspiration of God, and was profitable, 
&c. It will be safe for us to hold the 
Bible, every part of it, in the same high 
veneration and confidence in which they 
held it, and replace the Scriptures on the 
same throne of authority, where they left 
them. For to call in question any part of 
those writings is to contradict the testi- 
mony and teachings of Christ and the 
apostles throughout. It is to impeach 
their character for honesty and truth. It 
is to mislead men, and benighten the world ! 
I know of no appeal from the decision of 
Christ and his apostles. We have their 
words, here, as a wall of defence around 
the ancient Scriptures. Their testimony 
is a rock of proof, upon which the word of 
God will stand unmoved for ever. 

And the New Testament is a fulfilment, 
an endorsement, as well as developement 
of the Old. It is the counterpart of the 
Old; an introduction of clearer light, of 
grander views, and fuller glories. It is as 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 65 

another morning, bright and full, risen 
upon a milder noon. The first dispensa- 
tion presents an array of types and figures, 
of statutes and prophecies, such as time, 
and the providence of God, have fully ver- 
ified. These lights of law and figures, and 
prediction, converge to a full blaze of glory 
in the New Testament. All that was typ- 
ical and prophetic in the former age, draws 
to a fulfilment in the latter. The exceed- 
ing dim radiations that threaded the 
earliest ages, the oracles, altars, and types 
that gave forth their first faint and fitful 
gleams, the clearer manifestations of the 
Divine will in the forms of law, and in the 
system of sacrifices, and the fuller and 
clearer light that poured from the minds 
and pens of prophets and psalmists, as 
brought to the test of the gospel age and 
glass, like the various lights of Heaven 
emitted from their myriad points, are all 
found to be the same light, emanating from 
the same celestial source; and all is 
brought, through the lens of the gospel, to 
the dazzling effulgence of final glory. 

6* 



66 the spibit's swoed: 



CHAPTER VII. 

Eecapitulation — The works of God interrogated — A 
resemblance expected between the two volumes — Both 
have difficulties — Apparent ^discrepancies — Their con- 
flict premature — Geology — False philosophy refuted — 
Nature and Scripture have the same confirmation from 
this source — Origin and identity of the race — History 
of providence — Style and themes of the two volumes 
— Tendency of their study, &c. 

We will now pass to another form of 
proof. We have attended to the responses 
of reason in reference to a divine revela- 
tion: we have also listened to the voice of 
prediction, and marked the developements 
of providence in relation to this subject. 
We now turn to the works of God, and 
interrogate these in regard to the origin 
and authenticity of the Scriptures. 

We should reasonably expect to find a 
resemblance between the works of God and 
the word of God. We should expect to 
find the same hand writing both in Nature 



TEUTH DEFENDED. 67 

and in Scripture if both are from God. If 
God has both acted and spoken, we should 
expect that his actions and his words would 
correspond. If the great volume of 
nature, including creation and providence, 
has the Divine impress upon it, we should 
naturally look for something of the same 
style and spirit in the great volume of 
revealed truth, if there be one. 

We are now prepared to assume that 
there actually exist a striking resemblance 
and continued analogies between the Scrip- 
tures of the Old and New Testaments, and 
the works of God in nature. This corres- 
pondence is apparent to the uninstructed 
eye, as well as to the scientific investigator; 
though not, perhaps, to the same degree 
of assurance. It would be a pleasing 
task to trace out fully the resemblances 
between these two great systems or vol- 
umes of revealed truth. I propos§, now, 
to indicate only a few. 

Both nature and Scripture have their 
intricacies and mysteries, their depths and 
difficulties. If it were not so, it would 



68 the spikit's swokd: 

argue either the divinity of man, or the 
humanity of the great first cause ! To see 
clearly to the depths of creative wisdom or 
inspired truth, man must either be elevated 
to an equality with the great Source of all, 
or that Power must be levelled or limited 
to the frail capacities of man. But we 
can adopt neither of these dilemmas. 
We should expect, therefore, to find, as 
proves to be the fact, that science has her 
Gordian knots, and Scripture its perplex- 
ing mysteries. In this they are alike, and 
if the latter had no depths unfathomable, 
it would be a grave objection to the doc- 
trine of inspiration as applied to this vol- 
ume. 

Again, there are apparent discrepances 
and contradictions, both in nature and in 
Scripture. There are laws and phenomena 
in both that are not easily reconciled upon 
a superficial investigation. We do not 
design to make a particular specification of 
them in this discussion. I would only 
remark in passing that when science shall 
become perfect in its investigations and 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 69 

developement, and the exact laws of bibli- 
cal interpretations shall have been clearly- 
ascertained, the seeming contradictions in 
Nature and in Scripture will be reconciled, 
and the discrepances between science and 
revelation will exist only in appearance, 
and the two great systems or volumes will 
be found to coincide throughout. It is 
therefore premature and profane to push 
science and Scripture into an unnatural 
conflict. It is as a war in Heaven. Let 
the true key of interpretation to both these 
volumes be found, and there can be no 
occasion for this conflict. 

Again, God has deposited the records of 
creation and the archives of providence and 
of time in the deep foundations of earth; 
to be held in reserve against days of doubt 
and atheistical developements, as demon- 
strations and testimonials to the truth. So 
when skepticism has become bold, and 
cavils at the great facts of creation, and 
contends for the eternity of the present 
order of things, science brings triumph- 
antly forth these records, or relics of the 



70 the spirit's sword: 

earliest ages, from their long graves, to 
demonstrate the origin and providential 
developement of the present system of 
things. 

And thus philosophy has been met and 
refuted on its own ground. Notice how 
exactly these records, written on stone 
tables, agree with the earliest records of 
Scripture. As recent discoveries, made in 
exhumed cities and temples, and those an- 
cient hieroglyphics left upon mouldering 
monuments recently deciphered, go to con- 
firm concurrent records of Scripture, so do 
the relics and archives found in the earth's 
deep beds, and engraved upon her ever- 
lasting walls, agree with the handwriting 
of God as given us in his word. The bi- 
ography of our globe, therefore, and of its 
inhabitants, as well as the autograph of the 
Creator himself, is given us with unques- 
tionable authority and distinctness in both 
volumes of his great revelation. 

Turn now to the science that treats of 
the origin and identity of the race. It has 
had to contend with difficulties and falla- 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 71 

cious appearances. And there are still 
men, learned in the sciences, who teach the 
doctrine of diversity in the origin of the 
races now on earth. It is proper, however, 
to remark here, that the theory of the 
original oneness of the human family har- 
monizes with the profoundest discoveries 
in science, and the obvious teachings of 
Scripture. It is least open to objections 
from reason, philosophy, or revelation, and 
may now be considered as fairly estab- 
lished. Sameness in mental and moral 
characteristics, as well as in general physi- 
cal structure, together with the easy coa- 
lescence or union of the races, make it 
exceedingly unnatural to suppose that they 
have no essential or original affinity for 
each other. 

Take, again, the history of providence, 
and of empires. The finger of nature 
points out great physical changes upon the 
earth: and it is perfectly clear, too, that 
great national reverses have taken place. 
Oceans and civilization too, have changed 
quarters of the globe. The races have 



72 THE spirit's sword: 

made their revolutions, as well as the plan- 
ets. History and philosophy are each full 
of the records and the reasons of these 
changes. In these respects how exactly do 
the voice of Scripture and that of Nature 
agree. There is indeed a counterpart in 
revelation to the surprising developements 
of history and providence. 

And if I may so express myself, the nat- 
ural scenery of Scripture, and the spiritual 
aspects of nature, are in beautiful harmony. 
Their scenes, their landscape, so to speak, 
are thus brought into sympathy and symme- 
try. Both volumes have their heavens of 
glory, but of eclipse and cloud. They 
both have their earth, too, a beautiful, but 
a blasted paradise. Each has its old 
and their new world, their ages of civili- 
zation and of deterioration, and their peri- 
ods of advancing and of ravishing pros- 
pects. Each system abounds in all that is 
beautiful in picture and in incident, in 
landscape and illustration. They agree, 
also, in their general exhibition of man 
and of the Creator. They present the 




TRUTH DEPENDED. 73 

same* variety of divine attributes, blending, 
indeed, like the various elements of color, 
into one comprehensive attribute of love. 
Nature and Scripture present the same 
substantial view of providence. Seen in 
the mirror of either, there are inextricable 
masteries that overshadow God's ways 
with the human family. And both reason 
and Scripture present the same prospects 
of retribution. Nature has a presenti- 
ment of future wrath, a pre-discernment 
through the clear eye of conscience, of 
treasured indignation, of impending retri- 
butions. The Bible, also, through all its 
pages, marks, in fearful lines, the contrast 
between the righteous and the wicked. Its 
threatenings appeal to the human fears, 
and tell us, in language awfully express- 
ive, that there is a Hell. Nature and 
Scripture give us the same view of virtue 
and of vice, of obedience to law, and of 
disregard to obligation. They give us the 
same views of patriotism and humanity, of 

* See Appendix. 
7 



74 



oppression and cruelty. Conscience and 
Scripture, reason and revelation, agree 
here. They teach the same doctrine in 
regard to marriage tows, the family rela- 
tion, the rights of government, and of the 
governed. They teach the same doctrines 
of immortality and accountableness. 

And then the careful study of these two 
volumes, tends to substantially the same 
results. Their influence upon the heart 
and mind are in no wise dissimilar. The 
study of Nature and of Scripture tends to 
elevate our views, and to humble our pride; 
to promote our growth in wisdom and in 
grace, and to take from us a spirit of self- 
confidence and undue conceit. The study 
of these great volumes imposes a check 
upon vice and irreverence, and tends to 
raise the thoughts and principles above 
self and earth, up to the Infinite Source of 
all. 

Besides, the more thoroughly the volume 
of Nature and that of Scripture are studied, 
the more they will be admired. This goes 
to prove their perfection! Works of art 
that approach nearest to nature, will bear 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 75 

the most thorough, criticism and scrutiny; 
and will call forth the strongest sentiments 
of admiration. It is perfection, however, 
that never disgusffe nor tires; and both 
Nature and Scripture are proved to be per- 
fect, in that their patient study never dis- 
gusts nor wearies. 

And it is asked if the natural emotions 
have not somewhat the same freedom and 
play in the Scriptures that they have in 
nature. Both these volumes abound in 
scene and incident, as has been remarked. 
What book is so natural and yet so super- 
natural, as the Bible ? In both, extremes 
meet; the spiritual and the natural are each 
gratified. Nature is all miracle, in one 
sense. Her laws exhibit the ever present 
and uniform agency of the Infinite God. 
The Bible, too, abounds in miracle. In the 
infancy of the race, it reveals God as 
walking with man, as clothing him, as lead- 
ing him by the hand, by night and by day. 
But as the race has come to be of age, the 
Deity has withdrawn, and secreted himself 
more behind the veil of natural laws. Man 
now walks upon the scene rather -alone. 



76 the spirit's sword: 

The parental hand that led him from child- 
hood up to youth, is not needed now, as it 
was in the periods of his feebleness and 
ignorance.- With those special manifesta- 
tions at the last great era of the world's 
redemption and freedom, by which the 
authority and oracles of God were estab- 
lished, the Creator has withdrawn himself 
from the eye of sense, and is now to be 
viewed principally by the eye of faith. 

And, besides, in a world like this, the 
natural and innocent emotions need to have 
a perfect developement. We have in both 
these volumes a field where the natural and 
spiritual sentiments may have full exercise. 
We have in both, the grand, and the awful; 
the beautiful, and the sublime. We meet 
on every side with contrast- and striking 
alternations. We have in both creations, 
the picturesque and the new, as well as the 
monotonous and unchanging. Neither of 
these volumes exhaust the interest, or lose 
their freshness and charm. If the eye does 
not now behold the miracle, as a present 
fact in either, reason and faith are privi- 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 77 

leged to expatiate upon higher wonders, 
and the inexhaustible varieties of the 
Divine munificence. So that the better 
these volumes are understood, the better 
are they appreciated. And if the influ- 
ences of nature and creation awaken the 
voice of singing and of melody, so do 
those of Scripture awaken the lyre of the 
spirit to loftiest praise. 

We would by no means confound natural 
and religious emotions. The naturalist is 
not always a christian, nor the christian 
necessarily a naturalist. And yet it is 
false to affirm that there is no affinity 
between these two great departments of 
study, and the spirit of the true son of 
nature, and the real child of God. The 
true christian delights in nature, though 
he does not see with a practised eye; and 
the real lover of nature is beside himself, 
if he does not behold and adore the God 
of creation. The enthusiasm awakened by 
the study of nature's volume, and that 
which the study of the Bible is adapted to 
produce, may be strangely different in its 

7* 



78 the spirit's sword: 

relations to the moral emotions. So may 
either of these volumes be studied by dif- 
ferent classes of persons, with equally 
opposite results. We have enough, how- 
ever, to convince us, from the analogies 
above presented, that these volumes came 
from the same hand, and are adapted to 
produce nearly the same moral results. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 79 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Recapitulation — View of Miracles — The false and true 
compared — Heal miracles would be expected of those 
sent from God — Founders of Christianity based their 
authority upon them — Tricks of art and evil devices 
considered — Ancient jugglery, divination, and the like 
— These silenced by the voice and hand of God — New 
Testament miracles — No motive in them for deception 
— Those who wrought them hazarded everything by 
their position. 

We have thus far interrogated the works 
of God as found in the facts and laws of 
Nature, and also in the history and devel- 
opements of Providence. But these are not 
the only ways in which the hand of God 
has operated to confirm the testimony of 
Scripture. If we mistake not, the Divine 
hand has endorsed those writings directly. 
We have referred already to the declarations 
of God as verified in history, but there is a 
sense in which his works — his actions — 
speak louder than his words. 



80 the spirit's sword: 

We are brought now to the transition 
from the natural to the supernatural. There 
is an essential distinction to be made be- 
tween an ordinary and a special act of God ; 
though it is not always easy to draw the 
exact line between a natural and a super- 
natural event. There is also an essential 
distinction between operations to be re- 
ferred to intelligences and powers above us 
in the spiritual spheres, and those special 
operations of Divine agency that occasion- 
ally, though not commonly, occur. 

The popular theory of miracles is some- 
what indefinite, and, perhaps, deficient. 
Every wonder certainly is not a miracle ; 
nor is every marvellous work to be regard- 
ed as miraculous, nor indeed every apparent 
deviation from the course and laws of 
nature. We know as yet but very little 
concerning the systems, or extent of real 
nature. We know not how far created 
spheres and beings reach above us, nor how 
far they may stretch beneath us. Nor do 
we know how much agency they are suf- 
fered to exert upon the little spheres or few 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 81 

laws with which we are conversant. The 
theory of established laws in nature does 
not conflict with the idea of the occasional 
irruption of superior agencies upon our 
circumscribed operations, or of anomalous 
occurrences and appearances, which are to 
be referred to causes strictly natural and 
secondary, though entirely hidden from our 
view. Much that is now plain would have 
seemed miraculous to the ancients, and 
some things that seem supernatural to us, 
will appear perfectly plain in future time. 
Nature's laws are, indeed, vast and compli- 
cated ; nevertheless, if we may be allowed 
to refer certain phenomena to intelligences 
and principalities that have their sphere 
intermediate between us and the Infinite, it 
will not conflict with the supposition that 
even these mysterious operations are them- 
selves natural, and under the control and 
limitation of superior laws. Nor is it at 
all necessary to confound these perhaps 
superior and apparently anomalous opera- 
tions in nature with the stupendous acheiv- 
ments of the Divine hand. Just how the 



82 THE spikit's swokd: 

more extended and mysterious laws of the 
universe may at times derange the more 
limited and obvious ones, it may not be 
necessary for us now to know. But who will 
affirm that guardian angels or fallen spirits, 
in executing their kind commission or fell 
purposes upon earth, are utterly excluded 
from all interference with physical laws 
and agencies ? If their activity is felt in 
the moral kingdom, disturbing the moral 
sphere and forces, how know we but that 
it may be felt at times in the natural ? And 
besides, how can it be proved that what 
has heretofore taken place with reference 
to both moral and natural laws, through 
the medium of finite powers above and 
beneath us, does not even now actually 
take ]3lace, or may not under certain cir- 
cumstances and limitations, hereafter ? The 
miracle, properly considered, has ceased ; 
its great end, as will be seen, has been 
answered ; but that anomalies in the natural 
and moral kingdom, that all intrusions and 
irruptions upon our sphere of action and 
g upon the forces and laws of uniform nature 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 83 

from those invisible agencies and forces 
beyond us, have entirely ceased is by no 
means certain. We prefer, however, to 
speak hypothetically here and with caution 
rather than with absolute confidence. 

A miracle is an event that occurs contra- 
ry to the laws of nature ; it is an act that 
contravenes the established course of natu- 
ral laws. 

It is a work, also, that must depart so 
widely from effects possibly produced by 
natural agents and causes as positively to 
surpass the power of finite beings. It 
must consequently transcend the dependent 
agencies and forces above us in the invisible 
sphere. 

It must also be a work that is worthy of 
God and consistent with all his perfections. 
It must not be in conflict with either the 
wisdom, the dignity, or the glory of God. 
It must not be inconsistent with his benev- 
olence, or his truth, or justice. If the 
miracle must be the work of infinite power, 
it must correspond or be consistent with all 
the Divine perfections. An act may be 



84 the spirit's sword: 

performed by an art or power that surprises 
us and yet be wholly unworthy of God. 
Here is the principle: whenever a work or a 
wonder conflicts with either of the known 
perfections of God, it must be ascribed to 
some other agency than his. 

Again, a miracle is wrought for some 
appropriate end. It is never an idle or un- 
worthy act, done to gratify mere curiosity, 
or caprice. God cannot exert a useless, 
aimless, worthless agency, A miracle is 
always wrought to authenticate a Divine 
commission. No man can work a miracle, 
except God be with him. The miracle 
announces and confirms the Divine com- 
mission of him who performs it. It is a 
certificate or credential from the hand of 
God, to establish the commission and the 
message of him who has its seal. 

Miracles would, therefore, be expected 
from those commissioned to introduce a 
new dispensation. They authenticate re- 
vealed truth by establishing the mission of 
those who proclaim it. It is difficult to 
see how a mission from God could be con- 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 85 

firmed otherwise than by the sanction of a 
miracle. He who does a Divine act is to 
be credited when he professes to declare a 
Divine truth. His work confirms his word. 
If one is from God, so also is the other. 
The one is essential and sufficient to estab- 
lish the truth and credibility of the other. 
And as God cannot lie, he could not lend 
his sanction or his seal to any kind of 
imposture. m 



86 the spirit's sword: 



CHAPTER IX. 

The sanction given by miracle — Difference between true 
and false miracles noticed again — The defeat and con- 
fusion of ancient jugglers and diviners — New Testa- 
ment miracles noticed — No motive to deception — The 
course pursued by the Apostles — The validity of their 
claim — The foreign ambassador — We should demand 
real miracles from those who claim to speak from God 
— The gift of miracles, a matter both of prophecy and 
of promise. 

The authority of revelation stands in 
part upon this pillar of proof. Its princi- 
pal writers wrought miracles, and thus 
established their claim to inspiration. As 
was said of them, no one could do the 
works that they did, except God was with 
them. The Lord Jesus Christ challenged 
confidence and belief solely on this ground. 
He called on men to believe his works. 
The works that I do in my Father's name, 
said he, they testify of me. 

The miracles that were wrought by the 
founders of Christianity were of a genuine 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 87 

and unquestionable character. There was 
nothing of the doubtful and the flimsy in 
them — nothing artificial or incongruous. 
They were open and dignified, worthy of 
their Author and their end. They were 
above the power of men or angels to per- 
form, or of art to imitate, or devils to 
counterfeit. They were wrought to estab- 
lish a commission from Heaven which no 
other evidence could confirm. 

It is worthy of remark here, that God 
has honored special miracles, wrought by 
his servants, by making them stand out in 
full relief and contrast from the wiles and 
tricks of mere pretenders. The things that 
they have aimed to do are easily distin- 
guished from the genuine works of God. 
What magician has ever succeeded in 
changing water into wine, in stilling the 
tempest or the sea, in raising the dead to 
life, or accomplishing anything that could 
permanently benefit man? To invention 
and artifice there is an end, as also to art, 
imitation, or strategy; but there is none to 
the resources of Divine power. The more 



88 the spirit's sword: 

you examine a spurious work or lying 
wonder, the nlore clearly you perceive its 
imposture; but the more patiently a Divine 
act or miraculous work is investigated, the 
more evident will its origin appear. As 
nature is above art, and science superior to 
invention or discovery, so are the oracles 
of God superior to heathen myths, and the 
mighty works of God to the tricks of men, 
or the devices of Satan. 

The jugglery of the ancient magicians, 
how did it compare with the sublime mira- 
cles of Moses ? Those evil men, when they 
saw their own power baffled, and the 
wonderful works of God multiplied before 
their eyes, were forced to confess that this 
was indeed the finger of God; a confession, 
indeed, that their own tricks and devices 
were not ! 

Notice in the book of Daniel the account 
of those visions and dreams of the king. 
Now there were not wanting around the 
Assyrian throne, men whose business it 
was to dispose of mysteries of that nature. 
But when visions and wonders were pre- 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 89 

sented to them, that had reference to the 
final kingdom and the great truths of 
coming history, they were as ignorant and 
powerless as ordinary men. It took a 
Daniel to unravel mysteries that were 
treasured up in the Divine mind. Evil men 
and malignant spirits went to the full 
length of their chain, and were forced to 
stop even before the first beam of light, 
reflected from Heaven on the future, could 
be discerned. It was the privilege of 
humble, pious, holy men, who walked and 
wrought with God, to reflect this light 
upon human minds. In some such compar- 
ison or predicament as above described, 
have all pretenders in the sublime depart- 
ment of prophecy and miracle always been 
destined at last to stand. Their art has 
fallen short of the Divine art, their knowl- 
edge and power, of the Divine. They never 
have been able to transcend, with all their 
infernal helps and helpers, the actual laws 
of nature, in their widest relations. In all 
ages of time, the real miracle, wrought by 
the finger of God, in confirmation of a 

8* 



90 the spieit's swokd: 

commission to proclaim his truth, has dif- 
fered in every element and feature from the 
wiles of evil men and spirits. God will 
not permit imposture, whether human or 
Satanic, to confound his own established 
seal of prophecy and miracle. 

The New Testament miracles were 
wrought by Christ and his apostles, and 
were confirmed by unimpeachable witnes- 
ses, both of friend and foe. These works 
were above art, or imitation, or finite 
power. Nor were they done in a corner, 
before a cabinet of conspiring or suborned 
witnesses, but openly, before the world. 
The scrutiny of both friend and enemy was 
welcomed, was challenged, but no deception 
was found. These works had all the marks 
of the true miracle. They were numer- 
ous, beneficent, and dignified. They were 
worthy of their Author and design, and 
were above the power of mortals to per- 
form or feign. 

But if the question of deception could 
here be entertained, it should be asked — 
what possible motive these men could have 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 91 

had to practise fraud or imposition in this 
matter ? They could have had no personal 
ends to answer, or interests to compass, by 
such a course. No conceivable motive or 
purpose could have urged them to act 
falsely, for it would be contrary to every 
earthly and selfish interest. No possible 
reason can be suggested to give plausibility 
to suspicions of imposture on their part. 
For every natural consideration must have 
conspired to dissuade them from dishonesty 
in such a case. They had nothing to gain 
from success but personal danger and ruin, 
in this world ; and if their system was 
false and their course one of imposition, 
they certainly had nothing to gain, if 
nothing to lose, in another world. 

Indeed, the course pursued by the found- 
ers of Christianity can be explained only 
on the ground of great honesty and sin- 
cerity on their part. And their success in 
gaining the public ear and confidence, and 
establishing upon a firm basis the Christian 
system, can be accounted for only upon the 
fact, that God was with them and wrought 



92 THE spirit's sword: 

in tliem and by them, and spoke through 
them. No motive conceivable, save that 
of pure disinterestedness and a powerful 
Divine impulse, could urge men forward in 
such a cause to triumph over obstacles and 
establish, in the face of tortures and of 
death, the Christian religion. But they 
went forth preaching the Gospel every- 
where, healing the sick, raising the dead, 
stilling the storm, and controlling the 
mighty elements and evils of nature. They 
were bold, intrepid, and indefatigable in 
their career, and steadfast in their testi- 
mony and sufferings to the end. They 
faced crucifixions and the flame, and this 
when everything earthly and selfish must 
have tended to dissuade them from their 
course, and force them to a recantation. 

Now what these good men did, proves 
that God was with them; that he wrought 
in their works, and spake in their words. 
Men who with one hand wrought miracles, 
and with the other recorded imperishable 
but unpopular sayings, could have been 
moved by no other than the v Spirit of the 



TEUTH DEFENDED. 93 

living God. Were Moses and the prophets 
mistaken, think ye, when fresh from the 
work of miracles, they prefaced their 
solemn annunciations with a Thus saith the 
Lord ? The Hebrew Psalmists — were 
they in error, or acting under the impulse 
of delusion, when they exclaimed, " The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon me ? " Did 
Christ make the patriarch of Israel to err, 
or did he put it into his lips to lie, when 
in the presence of heaven, he is made to 
give to the words of Moses and the proph- 
ets a higher significance and sanction than 
even the testimony of one who should 
rise from the dead ? And the apostles, 
abounding in miraculous gifts and works; 
is it inconsistent to concede to them their 
claim, when they ascribe the truths they 
taught to the Holy Spirit? Thus high 
stands the authority of those who have 
professed to give us a revelation from God, 
and of whatever is authenticated or cor- 
roborated by the true miracle. 

If a king sends a minister to a foreign 
court, with power to speak and act in his 



94 the spirit's sword: 

name, he will give that minister undoubted 
credentials of his appointment. Nor would 
he be received at that court at all, till the 
seal of his sovereign was produced. So in 
the government of God, if he commissions 
men to speak to the world in his name and 
upon subjects of vast moment, we expect 
that he will give to them, as incontestible 
credentials of their commission, his well- 
known seal of miracles. How else could 
their authority be established ? How else 
could they prove their mission, or authen- 
ticate their message ? Have I a right to 
believe a fellow mortal, frail and fallible 
like myself, when he professes to speak to 
me from Heaven in words of Divine 
authority, when he gives me no proof of 
his commission, save his own simple, naked 
assertion ? I expect him to speak to the 
sun or the moon, and that they will obey 
him and pause in their course. I expect 
him to speak to the day, and that it will 
vanish into night; or to the night, and that 
it will blush into morning. I expect him 
to still the raging tempest, or the agitated 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 95 

sea; or to bring forth living water from 
the rock, or bring up the sleeping dead 
from their graves ! I am not satisfied with 
a doubtful experiment, a marvel, a wonder, 
or an equivocal work; one that is unworthy 
of God, or that conflicts with either of his 
known attributes. I expect, and have a 
right to expect, something that is real and 
decisive, an act that no one would think of 
ascribing to a finite agency: I must look 
for something that would make an impres- 
sion upon myself and all, somewhat like 
that made upon those of old, who confessed 
that it could not be denied that a notable 
miracle had been wroiight by the Apostle's 
hand; or those who said, "This is indeed 
the finger of God ! ;? "With such a work 
before me, I am bound to receive the doer 
of that work as sent from God. And his 
commission established, I am bound to 
receive his message. And God has done, 
in the gift of his word to man, just as we 
should have expected. He has borne his 
Apostles witness, by signs, and wonders, 
and divers miracles. Of this we are 



96 the spirit's sword: 

assured, not only by the sacred historians, 
but by the well authenticated testimony of 
secular writers of that age. 

It will not be out of place here, to 
remark that the gift of miracles was 
pledged to the disciples and others by 
Christ himself. The working of miracles, 
then, was matter of positive promise, as 
well as of prediction. The truth of Christ- 
ianity was, indeed, staked beforehand on 
the fact, that its founders would work 
miracles and wonders before the world. 
Those disciples and their successors had 
the promise of the Spirit to guide them 
into all truth. The Spirit, that searches 
all things, even the deep things of God, 
was to bring all things to their remem- 
brance, and take the things of God and 
show them unto them. That promise was 
explicit, repeated, pregnant. And it was 
exactly consonant with the declarations of 
prophecy, that foretold the miraculous gifts 
and works of those in the last days. I 
need not refer now more particularly to 
these predictions and promises. I ask, 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 97 

when were they fulfilled? Point out a 
prediction of olden times that has not been 
accomplished in its order. Are those that 
refer to future inspiration and miracles an 
exception to the great fact of fulfilment? 
And the promises of God, have they not 
every one of them been verified according 
to the exact condition and letter? Are 
they not all yea and amen in Christ? 
Who will assume to question these points ? 
When, therefore, was this prediction and 
promise fulfilled? When was the all- 
guiding Spirit given? The answer must 
be, just when it was most needed ! But 
when did those good men most need the 
Spirit to guide them ? Was it when they 
preached, or when they wrote? Was it 
when they spake with their voices words 
merely, that were to die on the air, or when 
they wrote down with pen and ink, imper- 
ishable sayings, to work their way through 
time, and overturn its errors and supersti- 
tions, and fill the earth ? Was the promised 
inspiration granted in the less, but with- 
held in the greater ? We cannot so believe, 



98 the spirit's sword: 

but must conclude that men who had the 
promise of the Spirit of God and were 
empowered to do the works of God, had 
also authority to speak the words of God. 
This power to work miracles, which was a 
matter both of prediction and promise, was 
claimed by the Apostles, at the very period 
when the Christian religion was to be 
established upon earth. And this work 
done — the Christian system authenticated 
and established in the world — this seal of 
miracles, like the types and figures of the 
Old Testament, had answered its end, and 
must vanish away. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 99 



CHAPTER X. 

Objections — 1. Bible abounds in unsanctified sayings — 
2. Styles of the different writers differ — 3. Things 
found in the Bible unworthy of God — 4. There are 
mysteries there. 

I will here devote a little space to 
objections. 

1. "You call the Bible the Word of 
God; is not much of it the words of men ? " 
I reply, we admit that the sayings of un- 
sanctified men occupy a considerable por- 
tion of the sacred Volume. But is it not 
sometimes important that we have a faith- 
ful record of what both good men and evil 
men have said and clone ? It is expected 
in a witness, that he speak the truth, and 
the whole truth. And as God is truth, a 
faithful account of the sayings of wicked 
men, when needed to corroborate or illus- 
trate the truth, may be, and may be called, 
the Word of God. Besides, truth in the 



100 the spirit's sword: 

dialogue or dramatic style, such as is most 
natural to common life and familiar conver- 
sation, lies with great power on the printed 
page. We expect in the perfect painting, 
the shades as well as the lights; and in the 
perfect portrait, we look for the defective 
features as well as the natural graces. The 
Bible is the moral mirror of the world. It 
is a faithful panorama or painting of the 
different ages and customs; and its perfec- 
tion appears, in part, from its exact truth- 
fulness, its shades intermingling with the 
lights, and its recorded errors, crowding 
and shading its serenest truths. 

2. "The styles of the Scripture writers 
differ." And what if they do ? The stars, 
do they all shine with the same lustre? 
Are the handiworks of God all run in the 
same mould? What though the sacred 
thought does not flow in one unvaried 
channel, and the spirit of inspiration should 
deign to accommodate itself to the natural 
styles and tastes of men! This is not 
different from what ' we should naturally 
expect. Variety here contributes to unity; 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 101 

and a greater beauty is given to the whole. 
The unity and perfection of the whole 
system is seen in the complicated but 
harmonious variety of the parts. God has 
made this world; but not all sea, nor all 
land! He made the heavens; but not all 
blaze, nor all blue ! He made the landscape; 
but not all brook, nor soil, nor sea ! And 
what if he has given us the counterpart of 
this variety in unity, in a perfect revela- 
tion ! Should we expect him to impress 
upon the volume of his word, a stiff 
monotony, a rigid, wearisome sameness; or 
should we expect the light and the shade, 
the scene and the change, the picturesque 
as well as the uniform? Should we not 
rather expect in the volume of revelation, 
what we have in the works of nature, unity 
in the relief of variety, and variety blend- 
ing into unity ? Should we not expect the 
chorus, filled with various and opposite 
voices — the perfect harmony in endless 
diversity, and all this diversity contrib- 
uting at once to the perfection of the 
whole ? 

9* 



102 THE spirit's sword: 

3. It is said, that " There are things in 
the Bible that are unworthy of God." But 
how is this known ? Who dares take the 
responsibility of saying this? And does 
not this objection apply equally to the 
works of God ? Certainly this charge will 
lie against nature with the same force as 
against revelation. The skeptic, the pan- 
theist, the philosopher, have the same 
interest in this objection that the Christian 
has. Little things are found in all God's 
works; and if they lie against the dignity 
and authority of revelation, they may be 
urged with equal force against the Divine 
authorship of nature. For we have, both 
in nature and in Scripture, the unseemly as 
well as the beautiful, the trivial and the 
sublime, the minute and also the grand. 
The earth is made up of atoms, the ocean 
of drops. * Animal and vegetable life dwin- 
dles away to an invisible point, where it 
escapes even the finest optics and instru- 
ments. And yet creation is the product of 
a perfect plan, the work of an infinite 

* See Appendix, 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 103 

mind and hand. And ought we not to 
expect in a revelation from God, the same 
general characteristics that are found in 
his other works ? If nature, with its 
diversity and simplicity, is adapted to man 
and is fitted to develope and discipline his 
powers, should we not expect to find in 
revelation, coming from the same Author, 
and designed to elevate and sanctify the 
same moral beings, something like the same 
general peculiarities ? We are prepared, 
therefore, to find in Scripture a record of 
small events, the account of trifling occur- 
rences. We are not surprised to meet in 
this volume mere incidental suggestions, 
very trifling commands, and the record of 
very small matters. We have also in the 
same Book, occasionally, the account of 
ludicrous exhibitions and occurrences, and 
sometimes the record of that which might 
in itself offend our taste, and produce 
within us feelings of disgust. And yet, 
who shall say that these things are not 
indispensable to a faithful revelation ? 
Little things are often great in their rela- 
tions, and become momentous in their 



104 the spirit's sword: 

"bearings and consequences. The most 
trifling event may decide the fate of armies 
and empires.* The eating or the falling of 
an apple may affect a world ! It is the * 
thousandth dust, and not the thousand, ihat 
turns the scale. Motes show the way of 
the wind or the current better than vast 
navies. Nothing is small that affects 
human character or destiny. Trifles are 
often better indexes of character and tests 
of principle than mighty achievments, or 
vast revolutions. It is, therefore, no dispar- 
agement to Him who has made the minute 
and unseemly together with the vast and 
sublime, to let his word correspond with 
his works in this respect. A revelation, 
made up of superlatives and extravagant 
exhibitions and recitals, would want that 
artlessness and simplicity that are the 
secret of power. A volume of unvaried 
beauties, and filled with the record of vast 
events, would soon lose its hold upon our 
interests. It would be so unlike the book 

* See Appendix 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 105 

of nature, and so unfitted to the human 
mind, that it would fail to command our 
reverence and control our life. 

4. ''There are mysteries in the Bible, 
hard sayings, and records of comparatively 
conflicting import." But it does not become 
one who has never carefully studied the 
Scriptures, nor compared them with other 
systems of truth, to affirm this. But we 
are willing to entertain this objection in a 
qualified form. We admit that appearances 
are often as here affirmed. But we would 
say in explanation, that the Bible, much of 
it, was written very early in the history of 
,the world, at periods when philosophy and 
science were in their infancy. It therefore 
must use the popular language of its age. 
Its great truths would have to be set forth 
in the light that then shone. Its writers 
would naturally refer to the views of 
science and philosophy that were then in 
vogue, and deal in figures and forms of 
illustration best understood in those ages. 
If the truths of Scripture had been put 
forth in the drapery of modern science, into 



106 the spirit's sword: 

the learned language of recent philosophy, 
they would not have been truth! They 
would have been enigmas, blank mysteries 
to those who lived in those early times. A 
revelation that should anticipate the devel- 
opements of future science, and adopt 
language and formulas of truth that could 
not possibly be deciphered till long ages 
after, when the light of learning should 
break upon the world, would fall dead to 
the ground. The people to whom such 
communications should be made, would 
turn away from them with disgust or 
despair. Such a book, if received at all, 
would have misled the nations and con- 
founded the world, till the periods arrived, 
when systems of science and philosophy 
were actually discovered. But, as it is, 
the light of science, and the researches of 
philosophy, all combine to throw light upon 
the language and symbols of Scripture. 
Discovery in the great world of knowledge 
must throw light upon the work of biblical 
interpretation. Astronomy gives us the 
true sense of the passage that speaks of the 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 107 

sun standing still in Gibeon, and the 
moon over Ajalon. Geology aids us in 
the interpretation of passages that refer 
to the creation and structure of the Globe. 
The Bible, indeed, uses language that was 
exactly conformed to appearances in nature, 
and to the then current opinions in philoso- 
phy. The expressions of its writers were 
a faithful transcript of the opinions and 
the state of civilization in their age. But 
the language of Scripture has a flexibility 
and a free and easy adaptation to scientific 
discovery when made, such as clearly indi- 
cates the high source and wisdom from 
which it came. False revelations have 
stultified themselves by attempting to fore- 
stall or establish science. They have 
proved their folly by taking ground totally 
at variance with the great truths of nature. 
They have had, in their positions, to con- 
tend with the demonstrations of rigid 
science. But not so the Sacred Scriptures. 
Their phraseology is adapted to ages of 
ignorance, and also of developement. They 
are adapted to all times and nations of 



108 THE spirit's sword: 

men. Its light shines in mid-darkness, no 
less than at noon-day. This simple volume 
is the glory of all literature, and yet the 
teacher of ignorance and of childhood. It 
thus demonstrates its superior wisdom, 
origin and end. 

And with regard to mysteries, I would 
remark that the Bible is addressed to the 
moral as well as the intellectual nature of 
man. Its design is, to promote faith as 
well as knowledge, and to cultivate the 
salutary fears no less than spiritual feelings. 
Hence it is given to us in a garb that does 
not wholly exclude doubt, nor absolutely 
compel conviction. In a state of probation 
we need the doubtful as well as the definite, 
the difficult no less than the plain and the 
clear. Eevelation is given us, partly to 
prove us, to discipline our moral nature, 
and to impart to the principle of faith or 
trust, its fullest developement. Hence we 
need the obscure mingled with the serene. 
Faith rises to exalted heights through her 
misty pathway, while thought demands an 
unobstructed track of vision. If all was 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 109 

plain, where were the proving? The kind 
of faith that stands on demonstration can 
have no relationship nor affinity to the 
moral affections. 

God has, therefore, left us to make our 
way through these mazes of opinion, these 
wilds of error and temptation, with a 
guide that does not force our steps. The 
light that he holds forth does not neces- 
sarily constrain our vision. Our eyes we 
may close. Our spiritual sense we may 
pervert, so that right shall seem wrong, and 
wrong right, and truth seem to us as error, 
and error to be truth. The God of this 
world hath blinded the mind of multitudes. 
Our sun is often veiled by clouds, or its 
beams bent by the cold atmosphere. 

God has designed that man should believe 
and bow before him with submission and 
reverence; and his word is adapted to 
cultivate these sentiments. All his great 
arrangements and revelations are calcu- 
lated to cultivate a spirit of faith, and an 
intelligent but trembling obedience. By 

growing downward in humility and submis- 
10 



110 the spirit's sword: 

sion, we gain higher views of God. As 
we descend low into the earth, we may 
look up through its distant surface into the 
heavens, and see there, even at noonday, 
stars and systems which are invisible to 
those who move on the surface, and in the 
dazzle of day. So in moral things, the 
deeper we sink in humility, the higher and 
clearer we see. The more profound our 
trust, the more glorious the light in which 
we walk. Whatever promotes true sub- 
mission, whether it be trials, hardships, or 
revealed mysteries, tends to further the 
great ends of revelation, and to help us 
upward in our heavenly course. 



TRUTH DEPENDED. Ill 



CHAPTER XI. 

The way a new science or art is tested — The Scriptures 
put to the test of experiment — A glance at their 
nature and structure — Compared with other authors 
— Opinion of a learned civilian — What they have 
done, their fruits — The experiment of several suns — 
The witnesses — General effects — The monument — 
The Bible, a source of national security and prosperity 
— The magician — Dr. Young — The Jews' famed oracle 
— The Bible in various circumstances. 

The author of a new discovery or science 
lias recourse usually to experiment; the 
introducer of a new art or remedy, does 
the same thing. And if the proposed science 
or improvement stands this test, it gains 
ready access to public confidence. The 
Scriptures ask to be subjected to the same 
test of proof or experiment. It is but fair, 
that they be tried and judged by what they 
are, and what they have done; by the 
nature of their truths and the Divine 
elements of their doctrines; the sublimity 
of their revelations, and the excellence of 



112 THE spirit's sword: 

their code of laws and morals. It is 
proper, also, to take into view the character 
of their advocates and of their enemies. 
We are bound, likewise, to look upon this 
volume in the light of its results — the 
moral influence of its truths and precepts. 
We are to consider, moreover, the adapta- 
tion of these writings to the wants and 
miseries of the world.* Some of these 
points have been slightly anticipated, as 
essential to the discussion that has pre- 
ceded. But we would now call particular 
attention to the form of proof now pro- 
posed. That which answers all the ends 
and purposes proposed in its constitution, 
is commonly considered to be genuine, or 
what it claims to be. We prefer to put 
the Scriptures upon their own proposed 
test. They are to be known by their fruits. 
In the judgment that we form of them, we 
are to consider not only the grandeur of 
the scheme or outline of revelation, the 
sublimity and variety of its doctrines and 
precepts, but we are to follow down its 

* See Appendix. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 113 

track; we are to survey the moral changes 
it has produced in the world. We must 
contrast its system of religion with false 
systems, and compare its broad fields and 
blooming vales, through which the rivers 
of the water of life have run, with the 
sterile tracks and blasted regions of bar- 
barism and false religion. 

I would then ask, what uninspired 
authors have ever equalled the sacred 
writers, in the sublimity of their themes 
or the style of their composition ? Who 
have ever argued and reasoned as these 
writers have done ? Who have ever touched 
depths of thought so profound, or reached 
heights of conception so grand ? Who have 
ever equalled them in comparison, illustra- 
tion, and moral painting ? # What historians, 
like these, have undertaken to combine in 
their works the whole field of the past and 
the future ? What authors have penetrated 
to such depths of the Divine character, or 
pencilled such life-like delineations of hu- 
man character, as those writers have done ? 



* See Appendix. 
10* 



114 the spikit's swokd: 

or touched so deeply and finely as many 
chords of human experience and sympathy 
as they ? What writers have left on record 
doctrines so Divine, so pure; and a philoso- 
phy so true to man in all its elements, as 
the Scripture writers have done? What 
human authors have set forth laws and 
counsels, and principles of action, and 
motives to obedience, of such authority 
and weight as those on record in the Bible ? 
In a word, the celestial ideas contained in 
our Scriptures, the suggestive nature and 
beauty of their symbols, their simplicity of 
style and force of thought, together with 
their sanctions of appeals and penalties, 
prove them to be a production .of the 
Infinite Mind. Lycurgus, Plato, and Seneca 
dwindle into insignificance by the side of 
Moses, Isaiah, and Paul. Nor could the 
inspiration of the immortal poets of ancient 
times and literature be compared, for 
grandeur of conception and life-like illus- 
tration, with the book of Job, the Psalms 
of David, and the poetry of the prophets. 

The most learned of modern civilians 
and divines, who had mastered the treas- 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 115 

ures of nearly thirty different languages, 
expresses the opinion that the sacred writ- 
ings possess even a literary excellence that 
surpasses the collected treasures of all 
other books of his acquaintance. But to 
this tribute of praise to their literary mer- 
its, is to be added the divinity of their 
truths, the weight of their precepts, and 
the splendor of their sanctions. It would 
give us pleasure to illustrate these views 
by various citations from the different 
books of Scripture, but our aim at brevity 
forbids this. In subjecting these writings 
to the test of experiment, it is proper that 
we put them to the proof of faithful analy- 
sis; that we examine the elements and 
genius of their composition, the taste and 
truthfulness of their style, together with 
the correctness of their historic and pro- 
phetic delineations. And so far as we 
have failed to sustain our assumptions in 
their favor by candid argument and a care- 
ful reference to facts, we would fearlessly 
invite investigation to all the ^points and 
propositions that are here presented, but 
left without a full illustration. 



116 the spirit's sword: 

I would now call attention to what this 
book has done. What are its moral 
achievements ? What changes has it 
wrought in the states of society and char- 
acters of men? It proposes to the con- 
tinents a perfect civilization, and through 
direct or traditionary light, has established 
upon earth social and humane institutions. 
It has developed to the world a beneficent 
system of religion, a system that has with- 
in it the elements of a consistent salvation, 
the germs of every moral and educational 
improvement, the spirit of every humane 
and benevolent deed. The religion re- 
vealed in this book is the spring of every 
permanent improvement, the spirit of every 
healthful reform and revival of holiness. 
This book, therefore, becomes the pillar of 
the pulpit, the sceptre of government, the 
sanction of authority. It is the balm of 
the world. It heals its moral distempers, 
promotes the growth of virtue, and sus- 
tains the cause of learning and good laws. 
It is the stability of all times and things. 
We look at this word in its literary aspects 
and moral excellence, and find it unrivalled 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 117 

in the great libraries of the world. It fears 
not to shine in the centre of all other lights 
and books. It stands there, and shines as 
the sun amidst the myriad lights of heaven. 
God has indeed magnified his word above 
all his name. 

Now, suppose there were in space several 
suns, and that each of these suns was des- 
tined to make a revolution, or to shine its 
day, to prove whether it was the true sun 
or not. The sublime experiment, we sup- 
pose, commences. One of these suns rises 
and revolves; but it makes no impression 
upon the darkness. Its rising produces no 
day, its noon no warmth, its setting no 
shade. Another of these suns revolves; 
but its light is only a lurid glare, which 
serves to make the darkness visible. An- 
other sun passes round our sphere. But 
it sends a blight over nature, the fields are 
struck with disease and decay, and death 
covers all its track. There is ; yet another 
luminary to revolve. It is the last one. 
The sublime experiment is to be made once 
more. This last sun rises. In a moment 



118 the spirit's sword: 

a change appears. Creation smiles; death 
starts up into life, decay into beauty, and 
the face of nature is all bright and lovely. 
The earth, the sea, the sky, and the coun- 
tenance of every living thing rejoices. Is 
not this the true sun ? Was it not made 
to shine, its beams to bless and beautify 
all things ? 

Such is the Bible when compared with 
false revelations. These have all shone 
their day, but they have been to the world 
what those false suns were. Their light 
has been darkness, their influence every 
where disastrous. The Bible is shining its 
day, also, and it is a day that has no night, 
nor noon, but it opens to the world an 
ever-rising, expanding, glorious morning. 
Under its rays beauty and perfection abide. 
A perpetual spring, and ever blooming 
fields, and ripening harvests encircle the 
world. Blot out this book, and you ex- 
tinguish the morning sun; you quench the 
brightest hope of earth. Civil and social 
order would cease, marriage vows and ten- 
derest ties would be sundered, governments 



TRUTH DEPENDED, 119 

would fall, and every green tiling fade. 
These have their foundation in the Bible, 
and whoever, whatever, assumes to set its 
authority aside, helps to hasten all this 
ruin. Without this greater light of the 
world, reason wanders; the loftiest flights 
of philosophy and speculation are but a 
beating of the air; nature's lights are dark- 
ened, and the hope of immortality sets. 

We are now prepared to ask, Who are 
the friends, and who the enemies, of this 
book? Who are they that read it, and 
praise it ? I answer, the pure, the peace- 
able, the humble and holy; those who have 
tasted its excellence, and tested its worth. 
And are we not to take the testimony of 
an eye witness, that has knowledge and 
experience of what he affirms, rather than 
the assertion of one who speaks from prej- 
udice or spite ? But let the friends and the 
enemies of the Bible now be successively 
summoned to give an impartial testimony 
and verdict in this case. On the one hand 
we have the wise, the just, the pure. Those 
who pray most, and live best; and have 



120 the spirit's sword: 

proved the excellence of the Bible in their 
own experience and lives. There they are, 
look at them; listen to them. Notice their 
godly sincerity ! mark the unanimity and 
emphasis with which they testify in the 
case ! They speak of this book as excel- 
lent in its truths and consolations. They 
speak of it as wise in its counsels, and pre- 
cious in its precepts. They say it is good 
always, and every where, and in all things. 
Turn now to the opposite witnesses, who 
testify as to what they do not know, and 
as to that which they have not proved. 
They will speak from prejudice rather than 
experience. Look at them! There sits 
the scorner, the scoffer. There is the man 
of impure lips and life. There is the pro- 
fane person, the debauchee; the frequenter 
of bar rooms and bad houses. Notice the 
bloated face, the red eye, the curled lip, the 
lowering look, the skin spotted with dis- 
ease, and the hands fresh from violence. 
Speak to them concerning religion and the 
Bible; their great truths, and sublime sanc- 
tions, and they answer you with an oath or 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 121 

a sneer ! They hate the doctrines and the 
duties revealed in this book. But is not 
that ordinarily true and good, which the 
ungodly are prone to despise, but which 
the righteous revere and love ? 

But I suppose in fairness we ought to 
introduce another class of witnesses. The 
speculative schools claim to be interrogated 
upon this subject. Their disciples are ac- 
customed to look upon the Scriptures 
through the mediums of human learning and 
philosophy merely. They are fond of sub- 
jecting the Scriptures to scientific and 
philosophical tests, discarding the spirit of 
inspiration in which they were written; 
and deplorably destitute of sympathy with 
the essential spirit of the Bible them- 
selves, they fail to see the grand system 
contained in it, and to combine its gems of 
truth into a coronet of symmetry and 
beauty. They look for learning and exact 
demonstration on these pages, but fail to 
find them there. They bring to the inves- 
tigation of the Scriptures, the lights of 

unsanctified reason and learning; they 
n 



122 the spirit's sword: 

instal the frail intellect as a kind of Deity 
over the whole domain of truth. They 
subject the work of inspiration, as well as 
human science, to the tests of simple 
intellect and nice analysis. The pride 
of learning takes the place of prayer; and 
flights of adventurous speculation, of hum- 
bleness of mind, and the teachings of the 
Spirit. * 

But what need have we of further wit- 
nesses ? Can the Bible fear to commit its 
cause to a candid world, after careful ex- 
periments and candid examination, upon 
testimony so widely different, so conflict- 
ing and contradictory, and from sources so 
opposite? The Bible rests safely and 
proudly upon these tests. Men and princi- 
ples are known by their fruits not only, but 
by their advocates and enemies. A book 
is also to be judged of by the character of 
its readers and admirers; laws by the cha- 
racter of their advocates; and speakers, of 
the audiences they draw. A book which 

* See Appendix. 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 123 

lias uniformly gained to its friendship the 
pure and the good, but repelled the proud 
and the vile, has certainly one strong and 
deep mark of genuine excellence. 

In fine, the truths of Scripture, like the 
words of prophecy over the valley of bones, 
awaken a literal resurrection. They stim- 
ulate reason and education; they become 
the guide of conscience and of human 
responsibility. Not even the sun, as he 
returns from his southern solstice to revisit 
these icy months and wastes, has ever 
wrough tupon lake or land, a change that 
can be compared with the moral renova- 
tion which the Word of God awakens 
throughout the world. The sun, indeed, 
as he comes from his pilgrimage amongst 
luxuriant isles and zones to dissolve the 
marble waters and open the bosom of frozen 
nature, turning the storm into sunshine, 
and barren fields into a blooming paradise, 
puts upon the face of all things a fresh 
life. But when the directer rays come 
from the upper glory,, through the medium 
of revelation, the moral fields are changed, 



124 the spirit's sword: 

and all things become new. Savage wild- 
ness is turned into Christian gentleness; 
superstition and ignorance are exchanged 
for knowledge and culture; order and 
beneficence take the place of anarchy, 
fierceness and blood; the various vices are 
forced to flee; the midnight of error and 
ignorance breaks into morning; iron hearts 
melt, and the firmest wills bend to the 
sovereignty of truth. 

And what memorial ought the world to 
raise to the honor of the Bible ? If man 
should deign to build a monument worthy 
to express his gratitude for the Scriptures 
and to perpetuate the memory of the 
blessed institutions we have received from 
God, that monument should be built of 
Bibles. The proud monument at the Cap- 
ital of our nation is to be built of stones 
contributed by the States and different 
institutions that feel interested to add to 
the column that shall perpetuate the mem- 
ory of the Father of our Country. This 
is done in honor of the great founder of 
our government and civil institutions. 



TRUTH DEFENDED.* 125 

So in this monument of a better com- 
memoration, the family should make its 
contribution; the school and the college 
should present an offering; the hospital, 
the asylum, the humane institution, should 
forward their gifts; commerce, agriculture, 
and the arts should contribute largely 
to the work; philosophy, civilization and 
government should add their free and rich 
testimonials to the value of the Bible: for 
upon it these all rest. They have no pro- 
tection nor permanency without the Bible. 
Every department of enterprise, every 
interest of earth should volunteer in this 
work, and hasten to send their memorials 
to this greatest monument of earth. But 
Christianity would have to claim the priv- 
ilege of laying the foundation and placing 
upon it the top-stone of this mountain of 
memorials. For, after all that has been 
claimed for the sovereignty of absolute 
truth, discovered by the inner consciousness 
and controlling the faith and affections, 
independent of a recorded and attested 

revelation, it is the experience of the world, 
11* 



126 the spirit's sword: 

that all such systems are but shadows. We 
must stand after all on the terra firma of 
revealed truth. 

And as a matter of security and defence 
to a nation, the Bible is better than navies 
or armies. If we would protect our cities, 
let us raise forts and build breast-works; but 
what is better than forts and breast-works is 
the Bible ! If we would secure our coasts, 
our trade, our merchandize, from danger, 
it is well to line our shores with buoys, 
beacons, and light-houses. But while we 
provide those that may mislead or be swept 
away, let us not fail to provide others, 
whose light never deludes nor wavers — 
those that shall never cease to mark the 
rocks and shoals of danger, and all the 
perils of life's great sea. 

The elements of our past and future 
prosperity are contained in this book. It 
fears no harder battles than it has already 
fought, nor deadlier foes than it has already 
encountered and conquered. No winds, nor 
storms, nor waves can rise higher, or beat 
heavier than those that have hitherto 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 127 

assailed this blessed volume. Philosophy 
has aimed its sharpest arrows at this book, 
but they have recoiled with deadly effect 
upon the assailants. No weapon formed 
or hurled against it shall prosper. The 
gates of Hell will prove powerless here. 
Whoever leans upon the promises of this 
Word, is upborne as upon angels' wings. 
Such shall see the world far beneath them. 
Upward to them shall be a descent. Their 
attraction will be toward the skies. They 
can never fall, while the throne in Heaven 
stands. 

In point of sublime results, therefore, the 
Bible stands the test of experiment. It 
holds the relation to other books that the 
full-orbed sun held to the earliest light of 
creation, or which that sun now holds to 
the lesser lights of heaven. There was 
light before the glorious sun was revealed 
in heaven to rule the day. But the earth 
did not appear in its green landscapes and 
natural glories, till the sun stood forth 
definitely and glorious in the skies. This 
book contains the germs of all essential 



128 THE spirit's sword: 

truth, the ample elements of moral beauty 
and progress. 

A magician was once asked the secret of 
his power. He held forth a glittering cap, 
and said, " By this I divine." Ask him 
who has influence with God and power 
over the wills and destinies of men, for the 
secret of his charm, and he will point you 
to the beaming pages of the Bible. 

Doctor Young speaks of the Jews' famed 
oracle of gems that sparkled instruction. 
The oracles of God are, indeed, the only 
ones of which this can be truly said. It is 
their glory that at every point they beam 
forth knowledge and wisdom — that from 
every page they " sparkle instruction" 

The Jews were taught to bind the words 
of their law for a sign upon their heads, 
and as frontlets between their eyes. The 
ancient Greeks, we are told, wrote their 
inspired sentence in all conspicuous places. 
But how much more should we make of the 
lively oracles of God, the full-orbed glory 
of an entire Revelation ! How ought we 
to bind these blessed truths around our 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 129 

very hearts, and seek to unfold them to the 
view and faith of man ! What we prize 
we should impart. Giving is never fol- 
lowed by a diminished possession. God, 
like the sun, forever imparts without the 
least exhaustion. What has given us light 
and joy, we should hold forth to the world. 
This volume is the greatest gift of God to 
man. It is worth more than lands or laws, 
than merchandize or much fine gold. It is 
older than tradition, wiser than the schools, 
truer than philosophy, safer than the 
creeds, * $£id more powerful than armies. 

This Word has been proved. It affords 
a relief to the suffering, a sure specific for 
every sorrow and woe. For every moral 
disease it has a balm. Life has no anguish 
which it does not soothe, nor billow which 
it cannot calm. # It nourishes every virtue, 
quiets every fear. It quells human passion, 
banishes every danger, blesses every virtue, 
quickens every grace. Its truths are the 
great antidote to the evils and vices of 
earth. By taking heed to their ways 

# See Appendix. 



130 the spirit's sword: 






according to this word, both the young and 
the old may cleanse their hearts. This 
book is the believer's breastplate, his 
crowded armory. It supports him in the 
world's great conflicts and in the deep 
dark floods, where every billow flows over 
him. It carries him through the last peril 
of life, and through the deep valley of 
death. Its lamp guides the wayfaring to a 
peaceful home, and leads the voyager upon 
life's stormy waves, througli treacherous 
straits into a serene haven. It restrains 
the follies of youth, and lightens the 
burdens of age, and through the dark 
wilderness and perils of life, it guides 
where no ray of reason or experience shines. 
What single necessity of our nature doth 
not this volume meet! It disperses all 
clouds of gloom, and lays harmless at our 
feet every arrow of temptation and danger. 
It doubles our joys in prosperity, and takes 
from adversity its sharpest sting. It speaks 
in tones of terror to the wicked, but is full 
of encouragement and comfort to the 
righteous. It is not, however, till we pass 
through the furnace, the flame, that the 



TRUTH DEFENDED. 131 

balm ol Bible consolation is most precious 
to us. So often has tliis blessed Word 
carried us through afflictions and floods, 
that our very last doubt as to its Divine 
origin and inspiration ought to be for ever 
dispelled.* Can we question longer that 
which stands the test and trial of our every 
experience ? If we would enjoy peace of 
conscience in present responsibilities, and 
gain a victory over the grave, let us bind 
this book of books to our strongest faith 
and warmest affections. What but this 
can carry us safe over life's perilous sea, 
and give us hope amid the glooms of the 
grave ? 

But we are not done with this book, 
even at death. Our interest in the Bible 
will even outlive the grave. This sun will 
shine yet another day. By its light the 
deeds of earth will at last be judged. Nor 
is this the end. The word of the Lord 
endureth for ever; its truths will be a source 
of delight and blessedness in Heaven. 

See Appendix. 



APPENDIX. 



See page 15. 

There can^be^no compromise in this 

question J|The authority of the Bible must 

be admitted as supreme and final, or fall 

to a level with human standards. But the 

difference in point of authority between a 

revelation from the Infinite Mind, and the 

efforts of the highest human wisdom and 

genius, is scarcely less than infinite! Let 

a book claiming to be a revelation from 

God, be forced to yield that claim, and fall 

uponj even the highest^ summit of human 

authority, and [ its claims are no longer 

Divine .; its authority ceases to be binding. 
12 



134 APPENDIX. 

It is as if the Godhead were degraded a 
degree from infinite supremacy ; but that 
degree becomes infinite in extent, for the 
difference between the loftiest finite excel- 
lence and the infinite in standard and 
perfection, is one of infinite extent. To 
lower the Bible at all, therefore, from its 
fixed standard of infallible authority, is to 
put it on a level with the productions of 
finite intellect. 

To the question as to the entire authority 
of this work, we cannot rest satisfied with 
an equivocal answer: A book clothed with 
Divine sanctionsis not to be partly received 
and partly rejected, to be believed here 
and denied there ; for who, in that case, 
would undertake to discriminate between 
the teachings of God and the teachings of 
men ? Who would dare to say, this is the 
voice of God, that the voice of man ! this 
is light from heaven, those are rays from 
earth ! here is infallible truth, there per- 
nicious error ! To treat the Bible in this 
way, were to suppose a tribunal above it, 
a standard of truth or taste in human 



APPENDIX. 135 

reason or genius, to which its truths "were 
to be subjected. 

But did God intend that the human 
faculties should become standards in the 
moral sphere? Did he mean that they 
should become suns — or stars simply ? the 
greater or the lesser lights of the world ? 
Is the light of revelation to be a true, or 
an apparent sun ? Shall the Scriptures, or 
shall science and the speculative faculties 
be looked upon as the twinkling lights of 
heaven ? This is the great question of the 
age, and so long as it remains unanswered, 
nothing can be considered as fixed that 
relates to the moral destiny of man. 

Let me add here, that when confidence 
in the existence of a personal God, or a 
written revelation, is shaken, there is no 
resting-place for the human mind. Specu- 
lation, like the dove of old, may gather 
green leaves and pleasant branches from 
nature and science, but finding no solid 
resting-place, the human mind must return 
to the ark of rest, in the lively oracles. 
Once unsettled, the spirit of man vacillates 



136 APPENDIX. 

and wavers from point to point. When 
the supreme and the perfect are abandoned, 
it is most difficult to adopt a substitute, or 
decide upon a standard. The reason vi- 
brates from strongholds, to regions of doubt, 
passes from the highest summits on earth 
to its deepest, darkest recesses, sinks from 
the zenith of trust to the opposite extreme 
of despair. To doubt the perfections of a 
personal God is a start towards atheism 
and idolatry; and to question the full au- 
thority of a revelation accompanied with 
the full sanctions of Heaven, is a step which 
may lead to downright infidelity. Great 
is the fall from full confidence in the perfect, 
to the waverings of doubt and uncertainty. 



See page 43. 

I use the term ordinarily here, because it 
may be fairly doubted whether the gift of 
foreseeing future events is susceptible of 
being made a matter of natural endowment. 
The gift of memory has to do with the 



APPENDIX. 137 

past, or the facts of the past. It will not 
be pretended that the memory could take 
hold of ideal occurrences or facts of the 
past, that are such only as they lie among 
the possibilities of the past, or the events 
that have never been communicated to the 
mind. To impart such a gift to man, the 
Creator would have to impart one of his 
own attributes — that of immediate omni- 
science, which from the nature of the case 
is supposed to be an impossibility. Divine 
perfections are self-existent, are necessary, 
and hence can neither be created or com- 
municated. 

If this be true with respect to memory, — 
if the mind must have a medium or data in 
order to recollection, so it must have fixed 
facts or visible events for the faculty of 
prescience, or forecast, to rest upon. It 
then follows, that whatever of the future 
depends upon the Divine purpose or fore- 
knowledge for its existence, but has not yet 
passed into reality, or fact, could not be 
discovered, if we conjecture aright, by any 
possible natural capacity of man. Hence 



138 APPENDIX. 

I avoid the term natural, as applying to the 
supposed gift in question. 



See page 44. 

I adopt the prevailing impression here. 
I find that some of the ablest commentators 
regard this curse as referring construc- 
tively to Ham, though literally pronounced 
upon Canaan. It is regarded as an ellip- 
tical expression, pointing the curse designed 
for the descendants of Ham, to a particular 
branch of his family, which may have been 
most specially obnoxious to the Divine dis- 
pleasure ! I am inclined to this view of 
the subject, for these reasons: 

1. The phrase servant of servants seems 
to have a very peculiar application to the 
people of Central Africa, the great mass 
of whom are brutally enslaved to degraded 
heathen masters. Now these races are 
supposed to be descended from Ham, not 
in the line of Canaan, but through other 
branches of the family. These unhappy 



APPENDIX. 139 

races more fully verify the specification of 
the curse, than, perhaps, any others upon 
earth. 

2. The literal descendants of Canaan 
seem never to have been enslaved to the 
sons of Japhet, but the text affirms that both 
Japhet and Shem shall be instruments in 
executing the curse upon the sons of Canaan 
or Ham. The plural, and not the singular, 
is used. Canaan and his seed were the 
original inhabitants of Palestine, who were 
expelled or destroyed by the Jews, the sons 
of Shem. Japhet and his descendants seem 
to have had no hand in executing the curse 
upon Canaan, literally, but have struck 
hands with the sons of Shem in oppressing 
the descendants of Ham in other parts of 
the world. Now if the curse had been 
limited to Canaan, the text must have 
referred, in allusion to their subjection, to 
their brother, and not to their brethren. 
But as the reference is to both the breth- 
ren, we have no good reasons for limiting 
it to one. The oppression of Canaan did 
not exhaust the curse. 



140 APPENDIX. 

3. If the curse did not fall construc- 
tively, or elliptically, upon Ham, then, 
contrary to the usage of ancient times, he 
failed to receive prophetic words at all 
from his father's lips. Those good men, 
when about to leave the world, were accus- 
tomed to assemble their children around 
them, and pronounce upon them a prophetic 
farewell. So did the patriarchs; so did 
Noah, when about to die; and Shem and 
Japhet received these last words in the 
form of a blessing. Now if the curse in 
question did not fall properly on Ham, then, 
contrary to ancient custom, he was neither 
blest nor curst in the case. 

But I have no motive for insisting on 
this interpretation, if fair, criticism does 
not require it. If it has ever been adopted 
to justify the enslaving of men, the motive 
is a matter of lamentation. Can the primal 
curse that fell upon the race be referred to 
in justification of those cruelties and sins 
that have followed? Let us rather be 
stimulated to wise and earnest efforts in 
the behalf of those on whom the greater 



APPENDIX. 141 

curse or the lesser ones have fallen. God's 
justice and right cannot be questioned in 
these, and yet the cruelty, the wrong and 
ruin of man are fearfully revealed in the 
curses under which the earth groans. 



See page 58. 

And now, what shall we say to these 
things ? The New Testament not only 
appeals to the Old by way of illustration, 
and for the sake of comparison, but every- 
where appeals to it as the Word of God, 
as the testimony of his Holy Spirit, as the 
oracles of his prophets, as the rule of life, 
as the foundation of the spiritual building 
which Christ came to erect. Its predictions, 
its precepts, its narrations, are interwoven 
with every part of what apostles and evan- 
gelists have written. It is incorporated 
with the very material of religious thought, 
in the minds of all the New Testament 
writers. Even when they do not quote and 
do not seem, as the hasty reader might sup- 



142 APPENDIX. 

pose, at all to allude to the Old Testament, 
its ideas and its idioms are incorporated 
with all their productions. In the Apoca- 
lypse, John has not made one formal quota- 
tion of Scripture; yet no book of the New 
Testament, as has already been remarked, 
so abounds in and overflows with the spirit 
of the Old Testament, as this book. The 
writer had, if I may be allowed the 
expression, steeped himself in the ancient 
Scriptures, until he was thoroughly imbued 
with them: I know not how I can better 
express my views of the style of his pro- 
duction than in this way. And so it is, 
indeed, with all the evangelists, with Paul, 
with Peter, and with James. It is impossible 
to conceal this, or withdraw it from sight. 
It is in vain to deny it before any candid 
reader. The most sophisticated reasoning 
cannot even make out an ingenious case to 
the contrary. 

What shall we say, then ? What can we 
say less than what the Saviour himself said 
to the Jews ? " Had ye believed Moses, ye 
would have believed me; for he wrote of 



APPENDIX. 143 

me. But if ye believe not his writings, how 
shall ye believe my words.' 1 — John 5: 46, 47. 
Shall this book, then, be spurned away, 
and treated as a collection of fables, of 
barbarous maxims, and of trifling ritual 
ordinances ? This is the question. It is 
this very question which lies between the 
declarations of the Saviour and his apostles 
on one hand, and the scepticism of so-called 
Rationalists on the other. Whom shall we 
believe ? There is no compromise in this 
case. He that is not for Christ is assuredly 
against him. He who rejects his authority 
on this point, virtually rejects it on all 
others. Christ was either in the right or 
in the wrong, as the estimate which he put 
upon the Old Testament. It is impossible 
to doubt what that estimate was, after the 
evidence which has come before us. If he 
was in the right, then is the Old Testament 
a book of Divine authority — the ancient 
revelation of God. If he was in the wrong, 
then we can put no confidence in his 
teaching. He might be in the wrong with 
respect, to every command and opinion 



144 APPENDIX. 






which, he gave; and of consequence, the 
whole system of Christianity is nothing 
more than an airy figure moving in the 
mirage, or one which floats along upon the 
splendid mists which surround it. 

If obedience and submission to the decis- 
ions of Christ and his apostles be an 
essential ingredient of Christianity, then 
is my conclusion inevitable, in case I have 
duly shown that Christ and his apostles 
did receive the Old Testament Scriptures 
as Divine and authoritative. If this be not 
fully shown, then must I despair of ever 
seeing any point established in sacred crit- 
icism, either in respect to facts or opinions. 
There is not a circumstance in all the 
history of true religion, appertaining to 
ancient times, that is capable of more abso- 
lute demonstration than this. — Prof. Stuart. 



See page 73. 

Addison, after speaking of the multi- 
plicity of God's works and cares, says, 






APPENDIX. 145 

(Spectator, No. 565,) I could not but look 
upon myself with secret horror, as a being 
that was not worth the smallest regard of 
One who had so great a work under his 
care and superintendence. I was afraid 
of being overlooked amidst the immensity 
of nature, and lost among that infinite vari- 
ety of creatures, which, in all probability, 
swarm through all these immeasurable 
regions of matter. 

In order to recover myself from this 
mortifying thought, I considered that it 
took its rise from those narrow conceptions 
which we are apt to entertain of the Divine 
nature. * * # It would be an 
imperfection in him, (God,) were he able to 
move out of one place into another, or to 
withdraw himself from any thing he has 
created, or from any part of that space 
which is diffused and spread abroad to 
infinity. In short, to speak of him in the 
language of the old philosopher, he is a 
Being, whose centre is everywhere, and his 
circumference nowhere." 

13 



146 APPENDIX. 

See pages 102 and 104. 

The greatest events which the world has 
witnessed, have resulted from a combina- 
tion of concurrent causes, each of which 
might seem altogether unimportant in itself. 

Take the subject, to illustrate which the 
apostle uttered the text. The tongue is a 
little member ; yet it may prove " a world 
of*iniquity, and set on fire the course of 
nature/ 7 We need not draw examples from 
the monstrous folly of duellists, when so 
many examples are to be found among 
rational, sober men, and even in the 
Christian church. That little member 
speaks a word. A partial alienation 
betwixt two friends commences; by the 
whispering of other tongues, increases; be- 
comes coldness, then jealousy, then enmity. 
Their own passions, the partialities of 
friends, the officiousness of talebearers, act 
with combined and mischievous effect, till 
a trivial misunderstanding, which might 
have been amicably adjusted in one minute, 
becomes an incurable and ruinous contro- 



APPENDIX. 147 

versy. Suppose the parties to be pastors 
in the church; suppose them to be prime 
ministers of a nation; and see how the 
consequences rise into incalculable impor- 
tance. 

To change the figure, and adopt that of 
Solomon, " The ^beginning of strife is as 
when one letteth forth water." The breach 
in a dam, which might have been covered 
with a man's hand, was neglected, and 
occasioned a deluge. A fly, or an atom, 
may set in motion a train of intermediate 
causes, which shall produce a revolution in 
a kingdom. Any one of a thousand inci- 
dents might have cut off Alexander of 
Greece in his cradle. But if Alexander 
had died in infancy, or had lived a single 
day longer than he did, it might have put 
another face on all the following history of 
the world. 

A spectacle-maker's boy, amusing himself 
in his father's shop, by holding two glasses 
between his finger and thumb, and varying 
their distance, perceived the weather-cock 
of the church spire, opposite to him, much 



148 APPENDIX. 

larger than ordinary, and apparently much 
nearer, and turned upside down. This 
excited the wonder of the father, and led 
him to additional experiments; and these 
resulted in that astonishing instrument, the 
telescope, as invented by Galileo, and per- 
fected by Herschell. 

It is a fact commonly known, that the laws 
of gravitation which guide the thousands 
of rolling worlds in the planetary system, 
were suggested at first to the mind of 
Newton by the falling of an apple. 

The art of printing shows from what 
casual incidents the most magnificent events 
in the scheme of Providence may result. 
Time was when princes were scarcely rich 
enough to purchase a copy of the Bible. 
Now, every cottage in Christendom is rich 
enough to possess this treasure. " Who 
would have thought that the simple circum- 
stance of a man amusing himself by cutting 
a few letters on the bark of a tree, and 
impressing them on paper, was intimately 
connected with the mental illumination of 
the world ? " 



APPENDIX. 14 

Great effects may result from little causes. 

Let us pursue the illustration of this 
truth, as furnished by facts in sacred 
history. 

" The woman took of the fruit and did 
eat; and gave also unto her husband with 
her, and he did eat." In itself, how small 
was this action; but it ruined a world! 
One hand did the deed, in one moment! but 
hundreds of millions have been involved in 
the consequences, through sixty centuries! 

A spark of envy in the bosoms of 
Joseph's brethren, grew into settled enmity, 
and led them to aim at the destruction of 
his life. Here commenced a series of 
events, which occasioned the removal of 
Jacob's family to Egypt, and which gave 
complection to the affairs of two nations 
through all subsequent periods. 

The seed of Jacob, who came down to 
Egypt, were only seventy persons. During 
their residence in that land, they multiplied 
to six hundred thousand fighting men. The 
king of the country, alarmed at this in- 
crease, issued a barbarous edict, that every 

13* 



150 APPENDIX. 

Hebrew male child should be destroyed at 
its birth. To avoid the execution of this 
decree, a Hebrew mother, having concealed 
her little son for three months, resolved to 
commit the babe to the mercy of Provi- 
dence, with no protection from the elements 
and the monsters of the Nile but an ark of 
bulrushes. Soon, a stranger passed by that 
way, just at the moment that the babe 
wept. That stranger was a woman, whose 
heart could feel for a poor, forsaken infant; 
a princess too, the only person in Egypt 
who might safely indulge this tenderness. 
The child was saved, and adopted as the 
son of the king's daughter. Little did that 
princess know what she was doing. That 
weeping infant, thus rescued from death, 
was to be the minister of Divine vengeance 
to the kingdom of her haughty father; was 
to be the amanuensis of the Holy Ghost; 
was to write five books of the sacred canon, 
containing the only authentic history of 
the creation and first ages of the world; 
was to become a distinguished legislator, 
deliverer and guide, to the church of God. 



APPENDIX. 151 

Joshua's victorious march into Canaan 
was suddenly arrested. His army were 
compelled to fly before their enemies: all 
was consternation and distress. What was 
the matter? A single man, out of the 
twelve tribes, had embezzled three articles 
from the spoils of Jericho, contrary to 
Divine command. Achan committed tres- 
pass in this thing, " and wrath fell upon al 
the congregation of Israel." 

Restrained by the energy of Joshua's 
authority and example, Israel prospered; 
but his death was followed by a rapid 
decline of piety and morals. In this period 
of licentiousness, Micah stole from his 
mother eleven hundred pieces of silver. 
By a process, which exhibits one of the 
strangest traits in the human character, 
namely, the connection betwixt depravity 
and superstition, Micah came to the reso- 
lution to appease his conscience, by making 
this stolen silver into a god. A vagrant 
Levite, from Bethlehem Judah, became his 
priest. From this small beginning, idolatry 
spread like a leprosy through the nation* 



152 APPENDIX. 

The fear of God was extinguished; and 
such profligacy of manners ensued, even in 
the beloved tribe of Benjamin, that a 
peaceable stranger could not lodge among 
them one night in safety. One of the most 
dire calamities which flowed from these 
impieties, was civil war. Brother was 
armed against brother ; and in three des- 
perate battles, sixty-five thousand men 
were slain. " Behold, how great a matter 
a little fire kindleth." 

The sons of Eli made themselves vile, 
and he restrained them not. This negli- 
gence in the judge and the priest of Israel, 
proved a source of the deepest anguish to 
himself and his country. These lawless 
sons, having access to the sacred utensils 
of the tabernacle, carried away the Ark of 
the covenant into the camp, to ensure vic- 
tory over the Philistines. God was angry: 
Israel was smitten with a terrible slaughter, 
and the Ark was taken. In the mean time 
Eli heard what his sons had done. His 
heart trembled. Blind with age, and 
bending under the decrepitude of ninety- 



APPENDIX. 153 

eight years, he tottered away to the gate 
of the city, and sat down there, that he 
might catch the first rumor from the army. 
O, should the ark be taken, the glory of 
Israel would be gone ! With what profane 
triumph would it be told in Gath, and pub- 
lished in the streets of Askelon. Presently 
a tumult is heard — a messenger comes from 
the army — where is Eli? — " What mean- 
eth the noise of this tumult," said the poor 
old man to the messenger panting for 
breath, " what is there done, my son ? " — 
" Israel is fled before the Philistines; there hath 
been a great slaughter among the people; thy 
two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead; and 
the Ark of God is taken." Eli heard 
all with composure, till the dreadful even t 
was announced, " The Ark of God is taken; 7 ' 
that was too much; his heart sunk, he 
fainted, fell backward, and died. From 
that day, the ruin of Shiloh was dated. 
From that fatal day, their candlestick was 
removed out of its place, and their city 
dwindled to nothing. 

In the sequel of the Jewish history, we 



154 APPENDIX. 






read that Goliah of Gath came forth, day 
after day, and, with an attitude of daring 
impiety, challenged the Hebrews and their 
God. The men of war were struck with 
dismay, and the captains of Israel, with 
trembling hearts and at a cautious distance, 
looked at the mighty man. At length, a 
stripling shepherd, the son of Jesse, unfit, 
as was supposed, for the fatigues of war, 
was sent to the camp on a common errand, 
to carry provisions and enquire for the 
welfare of his brethren. By permission of 
the king, he entered the lists to fight with 
Goliah. Clad in no armor but faith in the 
Lord of hosts, and using no weapons but a 
sling and a stone, the giant fell before him. 
Thus a common stone, which had lain 
perhaps useless and unnoticed for ages in 
the bottom of a common brook, slew the 
champion and routed the army of the 
Phillistines, and decided a battle on which 
the interests of a nation were suspended. 

Great effects may result from little causes. — 
Porter. 



APPENDIX. 155 

See page 112. 

" There is a peculiar fitness in the Bible 
as a place of meeting between God's Spirit 
and man's spirit. It is the very place 
through which a conveyance from the one 
descends upon the other. There is no 
other inspiration to be expected now-a- 
days, than simply the word of God being 
made clear and impressive to us*. When 
the Holy Ghost speaks to us, He makes use 
of no other vocables than the words of 
Scripture. When He illuminates the soul, 
it is by a lustre reflected upon it from the 
pages of Scripture. When He bears upon 
the conscience, it is with the urgency of 
some truth, or some moral lesson, the whole 
letter and expression of which is to be 
t found in the Scripture. He does not 
operate on the mind of man, but by putting 
himself into contact with the Scripture. 
And man ought not to look for this 
operation but by just, on the other hand, 
bringing himself into contact with this said 
Scripture. The Bible is the place of con- 



156 APPENDIX. 

course between the celestial influence from 
above, and the terrestrial subject that is 
below; the common ground on which the 
two parties hold their conference, the one 
with the other, and where the earnestness 
of man meets with the visitation of that 
God, who rewards them who seek him 
diligently. It is here, if any where, that 
if we draw near unto God, he will draw 
near unto, us." 



See page 113. 
THE TROPICAL LANGUAGE OF SCRIPTURE. 

Tropical language is the language of 
allusion, metaphor, and simile. It gives 
to natural objects and events a speech or 
voice to illustrate truth. There are no 
writings so richly stored with figurative 
representations as those of Revelation. 
The sacred penmen spake in the touching 
narrative not only, but in the beautiful 
figure, the startling symbol, the expressive 
parable. They wrought every scene and 



APPENDIX. 157 

change in the natural world, into their 
life-like delineations. ' 

There is a necessity for this form of 
language in the Bible. 

1. There is in the human soul, a taste for 
illustrative teaching. There is something 
in the human mind that aspires to the lan- 
guage of nature. We love to have truth 
illustrated by what we see, and hear, and 
feel. Thus enlivened and beautified, it 
addresses the intellect through the senses, 
the fancy, and feelings. It is then that the 
whole harp of the soul responds — feels the 
pervading influence of the thought; and 
the impression makes itself deep and last- 
ing there. 

2. There is a necessity for this kind of 
language in Scripture, growing out of the 
poverty of common language. Language 
originally had but few terms; and as the 
mirror of the mind, it represented the 
comparative paucity of ideas in the earli- 
est ages. But it is during this period, that 
a revelation of the Divine will is to be 
commenced. The world's history is to be 

14 



158 APPENDIX. 

written — its melancholy past, its shaded 
future, shrouded deep in the obscurities of 
prophecy and in adumbrations of mystery, 
such as necessarily pertains to the future; 
with whatever relates to God and eternity. 
This communication is to be made to man 
in every age and clime, and through the 
medium of poor, meagre human language ! 
Hence the necessity for the free use of 
figurative expressions. The material world 
is summoned to the work of expressing 
those sublime, inspired conceptions. All 
nature puts on the dress of ideas, and 
reflects upon the sacred page the pure 
radiance of Divine thought. Language, 
like some of the humbler forms of nature, 
touched by the breath of inspiration, thus 
came to assume, so to speak, celestial life 
and beauty. 

3. The necessity for the tropical language 
of Scripture is seen in the mutable nature 
of literal language. Words and their sig- 
nification fluctuate, and become an unsafe 
depository of immutable sentiments. Hence 
a language is sought that will not change. 



APPENDIX. 159 

Figures and symbols are borrowed from 
the changeless scenes and fixtures of nature, 
in which these great truths may be safely 
enshrined. They will thus, breathing in 
the air, speaking in the clouds and the 
heavens, smiling in the bow and in the 
stream, and shining in the stars and in the 
sun, give forth a free and definite light 
upon the changing periods and phases of 
earth. The need of figurative language, 
therefore, springs not only from the pov- 
erty of human language, as the fresh plant 
does from the decayed vegetable, and the 
sweet flower from the desert solitudes, but 
that necessity has its rise also in the fluc- 
tuating forms of human speech and its 
standard expressions. 

4. There seems to be an adaptation in 
natural objects to the expression of spiritual 
truths. God seems to have instituted a 
sort of resemblance between visible and 
invisible things. In the fine analogies or 
parallels that seem to run through creation, 
shadowing forth correspondences or coun- 
terparts between sensible and spiritual 



160 APPENDIX. 

things, lies the foundation for the figurative 
and symbolical expressions of Scripture. 
So that the heavens shine, not only to shed 
natural light and beauty upon earth, but 
they are stretched forth, a mighty canvass, 
upon which the sublimest truths and ideas 
are sketched. The stream flows, not 
merely to refresh the land and supply the 
larger fountains, but it has higher relations, 
and purer reflections. It has a ministry to 
perform that effects man's spiritual nature. 
Its voice, its murmurs, die; but the mighty 
waters, to which each silver streamlet con- 
tributes, echo forth the grander truths of 
Jehovah. The gothic tree, that lifts its 
bowing branches from the earth — the pleas- 
ant bow, that forms the arching eyelids of 
heaven, and the myriad scenes, and forms, 
and voices of great nature, have each a 
higher aim than would at first appear. 
And he is happy who has an eye to see, an 
ear to hear, and a heart to melt. 

Nature had once been a medium of 
revelation to man. Its thousand forms 
and scenes have all been oracles of sacred 



APPENDIX. 161 

truth to the world ! Nor did they, like the 
heathen oracles, close their lips when the 
light of revelation dawned upon them. 
No, they speak still. Nature has not 
changed, but man ! The elder Scripture has 
withdrawn none of its light, has silenced 
none of its voices; but revelation, as an- 
other and brighter morning, has risen upon 
the previous twilight. The echo of God's 
greater voice, in Scripture, has drowned 
none of the lesser voices of nature. Thus, 
by associating spiritual truth with natural 
objects, its light beams forth afresh; its 
echos are prolonged, and startle the world. 
The spirit thus kindles anew the lumina- 
ries of moral vision, lights up truth that 
had faded from the canvass of nature, and 
gives an echo to voices that had long been 
unheard, or unheeded. The physical uni- 
verse was made for mind. Its laws, its 
taste and beauties, are fitted to strengthen 
and adorn the imperishable faculties. Cre- 
ation was adapted to the spiritual nature 
of that which was formed upon an uncre- 
ated model. It was adapted to develope 

14* 



162 APPENDIX, 

and expand the human powers, and to help 
prepare them for a purely spiritual exist- 
ence. Then as the scaffolding is thrown 
aside, when the stately temple is finished, 
that its splendor and proportions might 
appear unobscured, so material nature, 
when its work is done, will pass away, and 
all will again be spiritual. 

I remark once more, that in the use of 
figurative language in Revelation, Divine 
truth comes to be largely associated with the 
objects in nature, so that almost every 
object has a spiritual truth attached to it, 
and the presence of these objects naturally 
suggests to the mind the truths which they 
illustrate. Thus the sun suggests to the 
mind the Deity, who by metaphor is called 
a sun. The stars set before the imagina- 
tion the saints, in their stations of glory. 
In this way, all nature comes to be hung 
over with truth. Every object becomes a 
spiritual teacher, pointing to the wisdom 
of Him who built the heavens and the 
earth. 



APPENDIX. 163 

See page 122. 
GERMAN THEOLOGY. 

Speaking of the better class of German 
theologians, Professor Stuart uses the fol- 
lowing language: — " Could their position 
in regard to the Scriptures be received by 
the undiscriminating multitude of men, 
both learned and unlearned, without the 
most absolute hazard of all belief in the 
Bible as Divinely authoritative; of all 
belief in its doctrines, its precepts, and its 
facts ? Impossible, altogether impossible. 
The ground once abandoned, which Paul 
has taken, that all Scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, every man of common 
attainments will feel at liberty to say 
whatever his own subjective feelings may 
dictate; to say: 'This is unimportant, that 
is unessential; this is a doubtful narration, 
that is a contradictory one; this is in 
opposition to science, and that to reason; 
this may be pruned, and that lopped off, 
while the tree may still remain as good as 
ever.' . In a word, every one is left, wholly, 



164 APPENDIX. 

and without any check, to "be his own 
judge in the case, how much of the Bible is 
consonant with his own reason and subjec- 
tive feelings, and how much is not; and 
these feelings are of course the high court 
of appeal. What now has become of the 
book of God, true, authoritative, decisive 
of all duty and all matters of faith ? Gone, 
absolutely gone, irretrievably gone, as to 
the mass of men who are not philosophers 
in casuistry and in the theory of religion. 
And if any doubt remains as to the effect 
of such doctrine, I appeal again to the 
religious state of the great German com- 
munity — to their Sabbaths, to their lonely 
sanctuaries, to their lack of missionary 
spirit, and to their general indifference as 
to revivals of religion, such as produce 
and foster warm-hearted piety. The Pietists, 
(as in the way of scorn they name all 
warm-hearted and practical religious men,) 
are merely • a smoke in the nostrils ' of 
their scholars and their statesmen. No 
man can rebut the force of this appeal, for 
the truth of it is too palpable. The worst 



APPENDIX. 165 

of all is, that the mass of the Germans look 
with secret scorn on a man who claims 
that a practically godly, prayerful, humble 
life is essential to religion. One question 
sums up the account. Where is the family 
altar for prayer and praise in the German 
community ? Even in the so-called religious 
community ? If what I have often heard 
be true, such altars are not more numerous 
among them, than were the righteous, 
whom Abraham was requested to find in a 
devoted city of old. I do not say there 
can be no piety, where this is the case. 
There may be some sevens of thousands, I 
hope there are, who do not ; bow the knee 
to Baal; ' and doubtless the Redeemer has 
sincere followers and friends there. But 
that active spirit of piety, which fills the 
church and the conference-room with hum- 
ble and anxious enquirers after the way of 
salvation; which sanctifies the Sabbath; 
which builds up religious Schools; which 
sends the Gospel to the destitute in one's 
own country, and raises up missionaries 
and causes them to go forth unto the ends 



166 APPENDIX. 

of the earth, that ' the dead may hear the 
voice of the Son of God and live' — such 
a spirit cannot breathe strongly and fi eely, 
where there are no family altars, and no 
Sabbath. 

" To the same position or state, or one 
much like it, must we also come ere long, 
unless this tide can be averted from us. 
But this must be done, if it can be accom- 
plished. On the present generation in our 
country it rests, to decide the question 
whether we shall follow in the footsteps cf 
Germany. The spirit of every Christian 
pastor in the land, and of every private 
Christian, too, ought to be roused up to 
meet this great exigency; and the churches 
should at once concert and adopt measures 
to establish such an Institution as has been 
described above, or something equivalent 
to it. New times and new dangers call 

FOR NEW AND ADEQUATE DEFENCES. We 

should train our own men; so that they 
may rush with skill and power into the 
thickest of the battle, as often as the 
portentous contest arises. Alas ! How will 



APPENDIX. 167 

our churches rue the day, (when they have 
become prostrate in energy, and insignifi- 
cant in numbers,) in which they have neglec- 
ted to furnish a corps of holy officers, who are 
adequate to guide in every contest, and 
on every occasion.' 7 — Bibliotheca Sacra. 



See page 129. 
CREEDS. 

Whoever believes the Bible, or rejects 
it, has formed an opinion as to what it 
teaches. No one can assent to the Bible 
till he has satisfied himself as to its instruc- 
tions; and no one can consistently reject 
its teachings, till he has formed an opinion 
as to what they really are. To say that 
we receive the instructions of the Bible, 
and at the same time affirm that we are 
not decided as to what points are made 
clear upon its pages, is to convict ourselves 
of inconsistency or self-contradiction. And 
to declare that we do not have confidence 
in the sacred volume, when we have failed 



168 APPENDIX. 

to form an opinion as to what it teaches, 
is to charge ourselves with prejudice or 
falsehood. In its drapery of symbols or 
didactic terms, this Book unfolds distinct 
doctrines and principles. These are pre- 
sented to our faith, or mental and spiritual 
assent. If we accept these points, we 
have what we may call a creed. 

It matters nothing for us to say that the 
Bible is our creed! This is to confound things. 
How few there are who do not profess to 
accept the teachings of the Bible, in some 
form; and yet how widely do these Bible 
believers differ ! To be fair and plain, we 
must go farther, and state what we regard 
the Bible as teaching, and as denying. This 
Book, addressed to our faith and spiritual 
nature, is susceptible of various inter- 
pretations; and hence the importance of 
compends, or clearly expressed views of 
its teachings. Till this is done, in some 
form or other, how can the boundaries 
of truth and error be established; how the 
line between the calvinist and transcen- 
dentalist be traced ? Till we narrow 



APPENDIX. 169 

ourselves down to particulars, or definite 
points, our assertion that we receive the 
Bible amounts to nothing. If a man says 
he believes the Bible, but declines to state 
what it is in the Bible that he believes, he 
must be supposed to be in confusion in his 
own mind, or to be wanting in the grace 
of Christian frankness. 

Is it affirmed that creeds are not inspired, 
and that other ages may change them ? It 
is answered, that their use does not lie on 
this ground: they are valuable as land- 
marks or tests, to which a general faith, a 
wavering confidence, or settled convic- 
tions, may be brought. Creeds, how- 
ever, are not so much snares in which 
to catch heretics, as they are lines to 
bound heresy. They are the tests of 
Christian fellowship, rather than the stakes 
of Christian martyrdom. And still, when 
we hear persons speak reproachfully of 
them, we are prone to be a little suspicious, 
— either that they do not precisely under- 
stand their use, or themselves; or that they 
wish for a latitude of belief a little broader 

35 



170 APPENDIX. 

than Kevelation, or for the license of 
holding views somewhat laxer than its 
immutable doctrines. 



See pages 46, 71. 
CHANGES OF TIME. 

In Asia Minor, we tread upon a soil rich 
in interesting and splendid recollections, 
with an existing population completely 
debased by ignorance and slavery. The 
glory of twenty different nations that once 
flourished here, has been extinguished; 
flocks wander over the tomb of Achilles 
and of Hector; and the thrones of Mithri- ' 
dates and the Antiochuses have disappeared, 
as well as the palaces of Priam and 
Croesus. The merchants of Smyrna do 
not enquire whether Homer was born 
within their walls; the fine sky of Ionia 
no longer inspires either painters or poets; 
the same obscurity covers with its shades 
the banks of the Jordan and the Euphrates. 
The republic of Moses is not to be found. 



APPENDIX. 171 

The harps of David and Isaiah are silent 
for ever; the wandering Arabian comes, 
indifferent and unmoved, to rest the poles 
of his tent against the shattered columns 
of Palmyra; Babylon has also fallen be- 
neath the stroke of an avenging destiny, 
and that city which reigned supreme over 
oppressed Asia, has scarcely left behind it 
a trace that can show where the ramparts 
of Semiramis were raised. " I have seen," 
says a traveller, " the accomplishment of 
that prophecy, * Tyre, the queen of the 
nations, shall be made like the top of a 
rock, where the fishermen shall spread 
their nets.' " — Malte Brun. 



See pages 72, 129. 
PHILOSOPHY OF THE BIBLE. 

This book, a multifarious collection of 
oracles, written in various ages and coun- 
tries, and at intervals of two thousand 
years, having in it every form of composi- 
tion, familiar and profound, songs and 



172 APPENDIX. 

history, ethics and biography, scenes from 
the hearth, and episodes from national 
annals; numbering, too, among its authors, 
him who wore a crown and him who threw 
a net, the Persian prime minister and 
Caesar's fettered captive ; written, too, 
sections of it, under the shadow of the 
pyramids, and others on the banks of the 
Euphrates, some in the Isle of Patmos, and 
others in the Mamertine dungeons : this 
book, so lofty in its tone and harmonious 
in its counsels, has become the more vener- 
able from its age, and the more wonderful 
as its history and results are examined and 
understood. Whence springs its origi- 
nality, if its claims are disallowed? It 
tells us of expeditions prior to Jason and 
the Argonauts. It describes martial ad- 
ventures long before Achilles and Troy. 
Its ethical system preceded Thales and 
Pythagoras. Its muse was vocal before 
Orpheus and Hesiod. Its judges flourished 
before consuls and archons. Its feasts and 
gatherings rejoiced the tribes, when the 
Nemean games had no existence; and it 



APPENDIX. 173 

reckoned by Sabbaths and jubilees when 
neither Olympiad nor lustrunTmarked and 
divided the calendar. It embodies the 
prophetic wish of the Athenian sage; for 
it ''scatters that darkness which covers 
our souls, and tells us how to distinguish 
good from evil." The valley of the Nile 
has now uncovered its hieroglyphics to 
confirm and illustrate its claims; and Nin- 
eveh, out of the wreck and rubbish of 
three thousand years, has at length yielded 
up its ruins to praise and glorify the 
Hebrew oracles. — Conflict with Modern 
Philosophy. 



Seepages 93, 112, 131. 
SPIRITUALITY OF THE PSALMS. 

We now reach what must without hesi- 
tation be pronounced the most spiritual 
portion of the Old Testament — that which 
more entirely than any other single portion 
is occupied in the hopes, fears, and conflicts 
of man's spirit in its intercourse with God. 

15* 



174 APPENDIX. 

What would the Bible be, without the 
book of Psalms? It seems, at the first 
yiew, a very separate portion — a part 
that might be taken out without destroying 
the symmetry of the whole. But it is not 
so. Should the experiment be made, it 
would be seen that a man with his arm 
shorn off at the shoulder-blade is less 
maimed and disfigured than would be a 
Bible, deficient of this book of groans, and 
tears, and triumphant shouts. In fact, a 
Bible without a book of Psalms, is simply 
an inconceivable thing. It is not only part 
of our rich heritage, but of ourselves. It 
is our voice; it is the voice in which the 
church, in all its members, in all its sects, 
countries, and climes, has for three thou- 
sand years poured forth her soul before 
God. 

We may say of the Psalms with safety, 
that it is the most entirely religious book 
in the Old Testament. There may indeed 
be other books — as the Pentateuch and 
the Prophets — that furnish more materials 
for positive views of religion, for theologi- 



APPENDIX. 175 

cal doctrine, and for right principles of 
worship. But the Book of Psalms is the 
great source and foundation of religious 
experience, of religion as manifesting its 
true life and character in the soul of man. 
What an exhaustless variety of religious 
thought and feeling pervades this precious 
book ! 

Luther, in his preface to the Psalter, 
asks, " Where do we find a sweeter voice 
of joy, than in the Psalms of thanksgiving 
and praise ? There you look into the heart 
of all the holy, as into a beautiful garden 
— as into heaven itself. What delicate, 
fragrant, and lovely flowers are there 
springing up in all manner of beautiful, 
joyous thoughts, towards God and his 
goodness ! On the other hand, where do 
you find more profound, mournful expres- 
sions of sorrow, than the plaintive Psalms 
contain? There again you look into the 
heart of all the holy, but as into death, 
nay, as into the very pit of despair. How 
dark and gloomy is everything there, 
arising from all manner of melancholy 



176 APPENDIX. 

apprehensions of God's displeasure ! I 
hold that there has never appeared on 
earth, and there never can appear, a more 
precious book of examples and legends of 
saints, than the Psalter is. For here we 
find out, not merely what one or two holy- 
men have done, but what the Head himself 
of all the holy has done, and what all the holy 
do still; how they stand affected towards 
God, towards friends and enemies; how 
they behave in all dangers, and sustain 
themselves in all sufferings. Besides, all 
manner of Divine and salutary instruc- 
tions and commands are contained therein. 
Hence, too, it comes, that the Psalter 
forms, as it were, a little book for all 
saints, in which every man, in whatever 
situation he may be placed, shall find 
Psalms and sentiments which shall apply 
to his own case, and be the same to him as 
if they were for his own sake alone, so 
expressed as he could not express them 
himself, nor find, nor even wish them better 
than they are." 

Calvin, in his preface to his Commentary 



APPENDIX. 177 

on the Psalms, declares: "I have been 
accustomed to call this book, not inappro- 
priately, an anatomy of all the parts of the 
soul; for there is not an emotion of which 
any one can be conscious, that is not there 
represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the 
Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all 
the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, 
cares, perplexities, in short, all the dis- 
tracting emotions by which the minds of 
men are wont to be agitated. The other 
parts of Scripture contain the command- 
ments which God enjoined his servants to 
announce to us. But here the prophets 
themselves, seeing they are exhibited to us 
as speaking to God, and laying open all 
their inmost thoughts and affections, call, 
or rather draw, each of us to the examina- 
tion of himself in particular, in order that 
none of the many infirmities to which we 
are subject, and of the many vices with 
which we abound, may remain concealed. 
It is by perusing these inspired composi- 
tions, that men will be effectually awakened 
to a sense of their maladies, and at the 



178 APPENDIX. 

same time instructed in seeking remedies 
for their cure. In a word, whatever may 
serve to encourage us when we are about 
to pray to God, is taught us in this Book." 

Hooker says: " All good necessary to be 
known, or done, or had, this one celestial 
fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief 
or disease incident to the soul of man, any 
wound or sickness named, for which there 
is not in this treasure-house a present, 
comfortable remedy at all times ready to 
be found." 

Bishop Home, in the preface to his well 
known Commentary on the Psalms, desig- 
nates it, " An epitome on the Bible, adapted 
to the purposes of devotion. Like the 
paradise of Eden, this little book affords 
us in perfection, though in miniature, every 
thing that groweth elsewhere; 'every tree 
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for 
food/ and above all, what was there lost 
but is here restored, ' the tree of life, in 
the midst of the garden. 7 That which we 
read, as matters of speculation, in the other 
Scriptures, is reduced to practice when we 



APPENDIX. 179 

recite it in the Psalms; in those, repent- 
ance and faith are described, but in these 
the}' are acted; by a perusal of the former 
we learn how others served God, but by 
using the latter we serve him ourselves." 
— John Kitto, D.D. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



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